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hile we now hink of the shirt s the orimary top for boys, the blouse was very common for boys in the 19th and early-20th century. And we see boys' blouses being done in many different styles. The style of a boy's blouse was almost always determined by the style of the collar which when blouses were most popular could be quite large. This is not a true for women's blouses whuch can be much more varied, but it is true of boys' blouses. There is a priblem in assessing blouses primarily ffrom ghe pojhotogrohic record. They were often worn with jackets whiuch mend that we donnot get a good look at the blouse. This is esopdcually the case in gthe mid-19th century when coillars were comminly quite small. The two most common were the Fauntleroy and sailor blouses, but there were many other styles such as Eton collar blouses, although the Eton collars were commonly detacable collars and not used on blouses. Often these varied collars did not have such destinctive terms. Perhaps the most famous, some would say notorious, blouses worn by American boys were the Fauntleroy blouses with lace or ruffled collars during the 1880s and 90s. These Fauntleroy blouses came in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. They were worn both with Fautleroy suits and without a jacket during the summer. A good example here is an unidentified American boy. American boys of course have worn many other types of blouses. The middy blouse was perhaps worn by more American boys than any other style--at least in proprtional terms. Eton collars were almost always were detachable collars and worn with shirt waists rather than blouses. Yonger boys increasing in the 1920s began wearing the American version of an Eton suit. The first ones appear to have been worn with detachable Eton collars, but soon blouses with small Eton-style collars appeared. Gradually Peter Pan collars became more popular.
Baloon sleeves were worn with various style collars. The name of the blouse was often more derives from the collar, but this was a prominent style. We nitice boys in the mid-19th century wearing long-sleeved blouses that blooned ll the say to the wrist. Thy were often wirn with jckets that had wid slleces, vut off beloiw the elbow. In the 20th cenury we see blouses wiyh dhort puff/baloon sleeves. This was orimarily a girls' style, but we see some younger Eiropen noys, esoecially, French, wearing them.
The double-breasted blouse is another exceotion to the rulke that it is the collar that determines the blouse style. We see some boys wearing this style around the turn-of-the 20th century. We arenot sure of it was a Western (meaning Americabn West) or a Russian blouse style. It was not a major style, but we do see examples. Nor do we know what it was called at the time.
Eton collars were commony detachable collars and worn with shirt waists rather than blouses. They were won okf the most common collar styles for boys. We see large numbers of boys wearing large detachable Eton collars in the late-19th and early 20th century. Blouses re a different mtter. Actual Eton collar blouses are less common. We see many boys in themod-19th century with very small Eton-shaped collars which look like blouses. It is a little difficult to tell because they were commonly worn with collar-buttoning jackets. Younger boys increasing in the 1920s began wearing the American version of an Eton suit. The first ones appear to have been worn with detachable Eton collars, but soon blouses with small Eton-style collars appeared. The younger boys wearing Eton suits generally wore blouses rather than shirts. Shirt tails were not deemed necessary for younger boys. The early Eton suits were generally worn with scaled-down Eton collars. Soon more comfortable-looking Peter Pan collars replaced the stiff Eton collars formerly worn by British boys. However, a few American boys were still wearing Eton-looking collars as late as the late 1930s and early 1940s. Gradually the Peter Pan collars became the most popular. Many Eton suits were also worn with normal soft, but never button-down collars. The collar, whatever the style, always folded down over the jacket to show it off.
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Perhaps the most famous, some would say notorious, blouses worn by American boys were the Fauntleroy blouses. They were certainly the most destinctive. They were made with lace or ruffled collars during the 1880s and 90s. These Fauntleroy blouses came in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. They were worn both with Fautleroy suits and without a jacket during the summer. A good example here is an unidentified American boy. The classic Fauntleroy suit of the mid-1880s was worn with a cut-away jacket showing off a fancy blouse. These blouses were quite varied, but had many common features. There were attached lace or ruffled collar--commonly very large collars. There were often also front ruffels. Some of these blouses had huge collars. Some had matching wrist cuffs. They blouced at the waist with a string closure. The classic Fauntleroy jacket was a small cut-away jacket. Velvet was common, but they were made in many oher fabrics as well. Other jackets were worn with Fauntleroy outfits, but it was the cut-away jackets were normally worn fancy blouses. The cut-away blouses were worn open. This mean that mother assured that the fancy blouse could be seen to full affect. The collar and blouse were a very important part of the Fauntleroy style. The Fauntleroy blouse that the boy here wears is a good example of this (figure 1). Note that you can see most of the jacket. On many Fauntleroy outfits the jacket was smaller. Sometimes you could almost not see the jacket, It is not always easy to tell if the collar and cuffs are actually part of the blouse or not. Because the Fauntleroy suit was especially popular in America, the Fauntleroy blouse was also an especially popular American style. We also see boys wearing Fauntleroy blouses without a jacket or with a light-weight jcket. This was especially common during the summer.
Lace collar blouses are primarily associated with the Fauntelroy style. There were, however, reltively few lace collar blouses. Lace is very expensive. Whe used, lsce collars were mostly pin om collars for use with collar buttoning jackets. They were not mnufscured attacjhed to a blouse. Actul Fauntleroy blouses mostly has large ruffled collars. The expehnsive ones may have incorported some lace. Moe commonly they dud not. What wa often used was eyelet lce which of coiurse is not real lace.
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The classic sailor blouse was the standard shirt-like garment done with sailor styling. These blouses were made in many different forms and styles. The classic middy blouse had the destinctive sailor sytling and blouse at the waist with a draw string. Many were also made with button-on styling. We also notice shirts with with sailor styling, but these were generally for younger boys after the sailor outfits had largely passed out of style. The basic middy blouse had a V-neck front, often with stripe detailing, and a flap back with the detailing repeated. Many middy blouses had traditionally styling, meaning styled like naval uniforms. The U.S. Navy of course set the standard, but like other navies in the late-19th and early 20th centuries, the basic styles were set by the British Royal Navy. Clothing designers, however, game up with a wide range of styles and varied detailing. They were usually blue or white or a combination blue and white, but many other colors were also used. The traditional styling with three stripes on the middy blouse was a widely followed standard. There were both pull-over and button-up styles. Middy blouses were often worn as part of a suit, but they were also worn by themselves without matching pants. These middy blouses were the primary sailor garment worm by American boys. After World War I we begin to see sailor shirts. These were mote like shirts and not blouses at the waist. They were usually dome for younger children without shirt tails. Many were button on garments. While they were commonly called blouses, they were actually more like shirts. But the term blouse evolved into a shirt without tails for womwn, girls, and younger boys that had nothing to do with the bloucing that origininally gave the garment its name.
This is an early-19th century stle, often assiciated with Lord Byron. It is sometimes called a Byron collar. We see this more in Euope, but ws worn by some Anericn boys--mmostly boys from srylih, wealthy families. Open vollar blouses were worn in the very early-19th century (1800s-20s). Thi was before the sdent of photograophy. We only see thm in early-19th century paintings. They were revived somewha in gthe early-20yh century, mostly in Europe and again mostly wealthy families. The only open neck blouse we commonly see Anericn boys wearing were middly blouse, but evenb these were comminly closed with a plain or decorated dickie.
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Gradually Peter Pan collars became popular. This was a rounded collar as compared to the pounted Erin or Shiller coollar. We see some in the 19th century, especially the late-19th century. We see Peter Pan blouses with larger collars in the late-19th and early 2-th century. They were not nearly as common as Fauntleroy blouses. The Peter Pan collar became very popular for girls in the mid-20th century. They were less popular for boys, but we do seen younger boys wearing them. In the 1920s we see some boys wearing them with the junior Eton suits worn by American boys.
A blouse is a loose-fitting upper garment that was formerly worn by workmen, peasants, artists, women and children. It is typically gathered at the waist so that it hangs loosely over the wearer's body. The inspirtion for the Russian blouse at the turn-of-the 20th century was the loose fitting garments worn by Russian pesants. Unlike many other blouse styles, there is no destinctive collar associated with the Russian blouse. Many Russian blouses are worn without a collar. Others are worn with large white collars such as detachable Eton collars. Some were worn as tunic suits at lengths falling to the knees. Others were bloused at the waist and we think best described as worn as blouses. We see many worn as Rusian blouse suits, meaning the a Russian blouse and matching pants, usually knee pnts or bloomer knickers. We do not yet have a lot of images showing boys wearing these garments, but it seems to have been a popular outfit for younger primary (elenntry) boys. As best we can tell they were most common in the ealy-20th century uring the 1900s and 10s. The boys look to be about 5-10 years old, but this is just a preliminary assessment at this time. A good example of a Russian blouse suit is worn by Oswald Bank in 1910. Notice that Oswald does not have a collar, but a kind of buttoned band in the same material as the blouse itself.
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