Figure 1.--This CDV we think from the 1870s shows another boy wearing a kilt suit. The top is a little difficult to make out, It seems to be a collar buttoning jacket with a sailor suit back flap. Something we have not seen before. He hs a small white collar and ribboin tie. The kilt skirt is pleated. He is wearing socks rather than stockings. We virtually never see that in America. All of the images we have found of kilt suits show the boys wearing stockings. Also notice the high-top button shoes. The studio was the art Studis in Leamington. It os on Lake Eire and the southern-most area of Canada. Portrait No. 48481.

We have little information about accompanying clothes such as headwear, beckwear, hosiery, and foowear. We do not have enough information to assess the other garments besised the kilt suit itself. All we see here is a small collar and bow which helps to date the portrait to the 1870s. Another CDV we think from the 1870s shows another boy wearing a kilt suit. He is wearing socks rather than stockings. We virtually never see that in America. All of the images we have found of kilt suits show the boys wearing stockings. We note a few English and Scottish boys wearing socks with kilt suits. We think a factor here is that British mothers had a better concept of what a kilt was. And boys wore socks with kilts, not stockings. As a result we see some British boys wearing socks with kilt suits. The same seemds to be the case in Canada, although our sample is still too small to be sure. We alsp notice button shoes which were especially common in America. We think that the British influence was dominant in the mid-19th century, but as the American economy grew that american influences became more important, espeially the turn of the 20th century.

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Created: 3:06 AM 4/30/2017
Last updated: 3:07 AM 4/30/2017