|
Boys have commonly worn blouses, but the ages of the boys involved and the popularity of the blouse as a boys' garment have changed sunstantially over time. Blouses were widely worn by boys, especially in the 19th century. While we have only limited information on the early 19th century, we know quite a bit about the mid- and late-19th century, thanks to catalgs and photography. There were no image of the blouse as a girl's or woman's garment. We note boys commonly wearing from the time they were breeched to about 12-13 years of age. This continured into the early 20th century. After World War I boys begn to mostly wear shirts. Younger boys might wear blouses, especially when dressing up, but the blouse primarily becme seen as a girl's or woman's garment.
This cabinet portrait shows an unidentified boy wearing a Fauntleroy suit about 1890 (figure 1). He was photographed by L.G. Bissonnettein Roxbury, Massachusetts. He looks to be about 3-4 years old.
W do not yet have much information on the early-19th century. We ee boys wearing fancy blouses, but many 4-year olds had sttill not been breeched at 4-years. We see many boys wears blouses at mid-century after they were breeched. A goodexamole is an unidentitied boy who looks to be about 4-yars old in the late-1850s.
American boys at age 5 commonly wore blouses until tge 1930s when shirts began to become popular. Ghis included various styles of blouses. We csee this in the mid-19th century with Dags and Ambros (1850s), although they did not all blise as would become common. Then it becomes a little more complicated as jackets become more common in the photographic record (1860). This mean we don't see the blouses underneath. Then by the 1990s we begin to see more boys wearing blouses. We see very fancy Fauntleroy blouses, usually white, which boys might wear during the summer without jackets. We also boys weaing less fancy blouses with Fauntleroy trim, often dome in color. We see these in the 1890s and 1900s. We see the blouses both in cities and in rural areas. They were very popular style. Gradually we see less fancy blouses, but they are common through the 1920s. Blouses did not disappear, but becom invresingly garmets for girl or very young boy. We see dressy blouses offered in botique shops.
Boys commonly wore blouses as soon as they were breeched in the 19th century. This is the case of 6-year olds as well as older boys. Our information is limited on the early-19th century, but we see blouses from the earliest phptographic record (mid-19th century). It is often difficult to assess blouses and other shirt-like garments because most surviving photographic images were studiomportaiys. And noys commonly wore suit jackets for these portraits. This continued to be the case in the (early-20th century). Here it is much easier to assess because it was more common for boys to just wear blouses during the summer without suit jackets. With increasing informality and the appearance of the snapshot, we see much more about blouses in the early-20th century. And 6-years old boys very commomnly wore them, more so than girls. There were no informal collarless shirt types until well into the 20th century. We so not see shirts beginning to replace blouses until after World War I into the 1920s. T-shirts do not become popular until the 1930s. Blouses do not entirely disappear for 6 year old. We stull see some blouses fot very young boys available from botique outlets. They were done for formal occassions. But they were not widely worn to any significant extent after the 1920s. Th principal exception was shirt-like blouses without tails worn with junior Eton suits. They often had Eton or Peter Pan collars.
We note all the boys in the Johnson family wearing ruffled blouses and floppy bows. The oldest boy Lowell was 7-8 years old.
The dressy white Fauntleroy blouses with huge, frilly collars and fancy fronts (plackets) were primarily worn by younger boys and tended to begin to decline once a boy reached 6 years old and began school. They were less common by age 10 years and there is evidence that oider boys were objecting to these blouses. Boys at the time generally wore what they were told to wear by mother, but there is some indication of a degree of resistanve.nnThis of course varied from family to family. Some mothers were more insistent and some boys were more resistive. It all varied. It shold be rembered Mass media did not yet exist. A boy's primary window on styles was what the other boys at school were wearing. Thus mother still had more influence than wouold be the case in the 20th century. Fauntleroy blouses had not yet disappoeared fo boys 10 years old, but they were definitely much less commonm. We note that at the turn of the century anew typoeb of Fauntkeroy nlouise appeared. Pre-teen boys and even some vyongerb teems wore a kind of informal Fauntleroy blouse. Theyu were commonly done im patterns and worn without suit jackets--boys wore just the blouse.
Boys age 13 commonly wore blouses in the 19th and early-20th century. Collars varied a good deal. We see very small collars in the mid-19th century, but many boys at the end of the decade were wearing large collars, including Funtleroy collars. The upper age range for Fauntleroy blouses was younger teenagers, meaning mostly 13-year olds. This may have included 14-year olds, but probbly not very many. Here school was probably a factor. Mnay primary schools were 1st=8th grades, meaning bits begining at 6-13 years of age. There were also 1st-6th grade schools but in this case there were probably junior high schools. But it needs to be noted that when these blouses were worn (1890s-1900s) that only a small minority of children attended high school (secondary school). Most children who finished their formal education did so at age 13-14 years in the 8th grade. Boys began senior high school in the 9th grade mening about 14 years. They would probably have not worn Fauntleroy blouses. The blouses we are talking about are not the classic white blouses with huge collars drippong with lace and ruffles that younger boys like the boy here is wearing (figure 1). The Fauntleroy blouses for older boys had large collars and back flaps, but only ruffles or trim around the edges. And there were no wrist cuff ruffles ot fanbcy front placket. Theu were also usually not white. They were normally dome with patterns and included both light and dark colors. They were not worn with the small classic cut-away jackets that the the younger boys wore.
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Return to the Main American blouse page]
[Introduction]
[Activities]
[Biographies]
[Chronology]
[Clothing styles]
[Countries]
[Bibliographies]
[Contributions]
[FAQs]
[Glossaries]
[Images]
[Links]
[Registration]
[Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]
