American Blouses: Colors


Figure 1.--This boy was pictured with his dog in West Superior, Wisconsin. Thd cabinent card portrait is undated, but was probably taken about 1895. He wears a very dark blouse with a floopy bow. He also wears knee pants with black long stockings.

White blouses seem to have been very popular. This seems especially true for the blouses worn with suits. We note, however, in the late 19th and early 20th century, boys wearing just blouses without jackets for summer wear. With these blouses we see more colored blouses. While most blouses were white, but there were colored blouses as well. This is very difficult to assess with the black and white images from the late-19th and early 20th century. The most obvious were the dark colored blazers. Some look almost balack, but I am not sure if boys actually wore black blouses. It may be just a dark color. Light-colored blouses are more difficult to destinguish from white, esecially pastel shades in period-black and white photography. Further dfficulties arose by the vrying sensitivity of film to color. The informatiom we are collecting in the catalog section of HBC is a useful tool to use necause color information was often contained in the ad copy.

White

White blouses seem to have been very popular. This seems especially true for the blouses worn with suits. We note, however, in the late 19th and early 20th century, boys wearing just blouses without jackets for summer wear. With these blouses we see more colored blouses. While most blouses were white, but there were colored blouses as well. The vast number of photographs that we have seen sho boys wearing whire blouses.

Light Colors

The color of blouses is very difficult to assess with the black and white images from the late-19th and early 20th century. We are notvsure if there were many light colors worn. Light-colored blouses are more difficult to destinguish from white, esecially pastel shades in period-black and w hite photography.

Dark Colors

The most obvious colored blouses were the dark colored blazers. Some look almost black, but I am not sure if boys actually wore black blouses. It may be just a dark color in one of various shades. A good example is Charles Dorff about 1905.

Photography

Further dfficulties arose by the varying sensitivity of film to color. Blue and red can be confusing in some film emulsions. This can be seen most obviouly in photographs with the U.S. flag. The blue field often looks much lighter than the red stripes. The informatiom we are collecting in the catalog section of HBC is a useful tool to use necause color information was often contained in the ad copy.








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Created: 1:29 AM 1/13/2008
Last updated: 10:29 PM 5/15/2008