Boys' Tuckers


Figure 1.--

This is a garment that we had only vaguely heard of before, a tucker. I'm not sure quite how to archive this. I thought perhaps neckwear, but believe that the collar section may be the more appropriate section. This was a garment made from a fine cloth or lace worn over the neck and shoulders. It was primarily a garment for girls and women, but was also worn by younger boys not yet breached. It seems to be a garment that appeared in the 17th century. It may have been the precursor of the pinafore. I have not noted a lot of boys wearing these, but I did not quite understand just what this was and therefore may not have noticed them. It came to be used in the expression "best bib and tucker", meaning one's best clothes.

Chronology

The tucker seems to be a garment that appeared in the 17th century. There are references through much of the 19th century. Charlotte Bronte in Jane Eyre (1847) writes, "Some of the girls have two clean tuckers in the week; the rules limit them to one." References to boys wearing tuckers are very rare, but at the time younger boys wore the same clothes as girls. They were also worn through the late-19th century. We note a Butterick tucker pattern offered for boys in 1876.

Construction

The tucker was a garment worn over the neck and shoulders. Early tuckers may have covered even mlore of the bodice.

Terminology

Tuckers were also referred to as 'pinners' or 'modesty pieces'. Randle Holme in The academy of armory, or a storehouse of armory and blazon (1688) wrote "A Pinner or Tucker, is a narrow piece of Cloth - which compasseth the top of a Womans Gown about the Neck part." The term tucker presumably developed because they were at first loosely tucked in to the top ot bodice of the dress. It was probably at first simply wraped around the neck. Some believed tucker was associated with the term as related to food, nut this commection has never been definitively established. Some were pinned in which is why they were also called pinners.

Pinafores

The tucker is believed to have been the precursor of the pinafore. The name developed from 'pin-a-fore or pinned in the front. Pinafores were essentially abbreviated smocks or aprons worn over other clothes for meals and play. I'm not positive when the pinafore first appeared. It appears to have appeared in the late 18th Century, but it is clearly a widely worn garment by the early 19th Century. I am also unsure as to which country or countries it first appeared. Based upon available images, the pinafore was particularly popular in England and France, but this may be just a function of the greater availability of images from those two countries. There may have been a variety of different styles, but by the mid-19th Century back buttoning pinafores seem to have been most common. Pinafore lengths seemed to have been largely determined by the lengths of the dresses in style during any given period. After the turn of the 20th Century pinafores were not commonly worn by boys, although they were worn by French boys after the style had passed out of fashion for boys in England. Pinafores for girls in the 20th Century became very fancy, stylish garments and not the utilitarian garments of the 19th Century.

Material

This was a garment made from a fine cloth or lace.

Gender

The tucker was primarily a garment for girls and women, but was also worn by younger boys not yet breached. we note Butterick offering patterns in 1876 from 1/2 to 6 years, the approximate age that boys wore dresses. There were no boys' tuckers as such. Rather there were children's tuckers that were worn by both boys and girls.

Popularity

I have not noted a lot of boys wearing these, but I did not quite understand just what this was and therefore may not have noticed them.

Bib and Tucker

It came to be used in the expression "best bib and tucker", meaning one's best clothes. This expression is known to have been used in the 18th century. At the time the term 'bib" did not have the connotattion of an infant garment. The first verified use comes in the translation of a French publication written by the Marquis d'Argens', New Memoirs establishing a True Knowledge of Mankind (1747). "The Country-woman ... minds nothing on Sundays so much as her best Bib and Tucker." I'm not sure about the French term.

School Tuck

Some fashion historians make an association with tucker and tuck or food. There is no definitive relation established. The work tuck has not disappeared, at least in British English. In modern parlance, tuck means treats bought from home or purchased at the school tuck shop.






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Created: May 31, 1999
Last updated: August 27, 1999