Figure 1.--These two unidentified boys wear blouses. They look to be about 5-8 years of age. One boy wears a print blouse while his brother wears a striped blouse. The stripes are white and an unknown color of equal widths. The stripes are continued on the collar and front ruffle. Notice that the older boy has the fancier blouse. Both boys wear small bow. There is no studio logo identifying where the portrait was taken. We can tell by the pinking that the portrait was probably taken in the early-1890s.

Stripes were another pattern used for boys' blouses. The photographic record suggests that striped blouses were not nearly as common as plain blouses, but not rare either. Here there may have been an age factor. We tend to note the older boys wearing more of the striped blouses. We note stripes done in a number of ways. We note single and multiple stripes as well as stripes done in various widths. We do not yet have any idea about the colors used in these stripes. Here the black-and-white photography of the day make it very difficult to assess color. Nor do we have a good idea about the chronology of striped blouses. We see striped blouses in the mid-19th century, but they then do not become popular again until the 1890s. We also see them in the early-20th century. Blouses after that were most done as single color garments without patterns. We hope to be able to better assess the striped patterns and the chronology of striping as we acquire more images for our chronology. We do not know to what extent stripes were used in girls' blouses.

Created: 2:18 AM 8/17/2010
Last updated: 2:18 AM 8/17/2010