Figure 1.--This unidentified American boy probably about 1900 wears a huge Fauntleroy ruffled collar done with eyelet lace. Notice the matching wrist cuffs. The collar and cuffs were all part of a fancy Fauntleroy blouse. He looks to be about 5 years old.

There are several different styles of ruffled collars. HBC has collected a range of images on these different types, but does not yet know the formal name for them or the contemporary termns used. This is an area that HBC hopes to address un more detail. One complication in assessing types of ruffled collars is that many ruffled collars incorporated lace in them and thus there is no easy way of strictly differentiating lace and ruffled collars. The two basic types are variations on sizes and shapes. We note ruffled collars of all sizes. Very small ruffled collars were popular in the mid-19th century. They are somewhat difficult to assess because usually all we see is a little fabriuc peeking out at the collar as boys commonly wore jackets in the 1860s which is when really large numbers of images become available through the appearance of the popular CDV format. A reader tells us thst these small collars are sometimes called 'pie crust' collars because they resembed the crimped edges of a pie crust. [Street] This appears to be a modern Amerian term. At the time they may have been called 'frills', but we are not yet positive about this. A good example is an unidentified American boy, we believe in the 1840s. Another example is Eddie O'Kane in 1865, but he seems to have frills sewn on to the collar of his dress rather than wearing a shirt waist wais with ruffle on it. Because all we can us usually see is the collar, we are not entirely sure what the complete garment was. But we believes tht these pie crust collars were sewed on to shirt waists. One of the few examples of the complete garment is the small ruffled collar worn by a German boy about 1862. We see much larger collars by the 1890s. These were often collars attached to blouses. The shapes included rounded, "V"-shaped, back flaps and other shapes. Many were done as part of Fauntleroy blouses.

Assessment Difficulties

There are several different styles of ruffled collars. HBC has collected a range of images on these different types, but does not yet know the formal name for them or the contemporary termnsxused. This is an area that HBC hopes to address un more detail. One helpful factor is that jackets were not as universal in the 1840s and 50s as ctghey becme in the increasingly prosperous 60s. Thus we see quite a number of Dags and Ambros with the boys just wearing their shiort waits. This gives us an idea about what boys were wearing under thir jackets. Another complication in assessing types of ruffled collars is that many ruffled collars incorporated lace in them and thus there is no easy way of strictly differentiating lace and ruffled collars.

Specific Types

The two basic types are variations on sizes and shapes. We note ruffled collars of all sizes. Very small ruffled collars were popular in the mid-19th century. They are somewhat difficult to assess because usually all we see is a little fabriuc peeking out at the collar as boys commonly wore jackets in the 1860s which is when really large numbers of images become available through the appearance of the popular CDV format. A reader tells us thst these small collars are sometimes called 'pie crust' collars because they resembed the crimped edges of a pie crust. [Street] This appears to be a modern Amerian term. At the time they may have been called 'frills', but we are not yet positive about this. A good example is an unidentified American boy, we believe in the 1840s. Another example is Eddie O'Kane in 1865, but he seems to have frills sewn on to the collar of his dress rather than wearing a shirt waist wais with ruffle on it. Because all we can us usually see is the collar, we are not entirely sure what the complete garment was. But we believes tht these pie crust collars were sewed on to shirt waists. One of the few examples of the complete garment is the small ruffled collar worn by a German boy about 1862. We see much larger collars by the 1890s. These were often collars attached to blouses. The shapes included rounded, "V"-shaped, back flaps and other shapes. Many were done as part of Fauntleroy blouses.

Created: 9:30 PM 8/17/2012
Last updated: 9:30 PM 8/17/2012