Figure 1.--This boy's kilt outfit appeared in the fashion magazine "La Caprice" in 1887. I'm not sure what size boy it was made for.

Kilts were not a major style for French boys. We do see boys from fashionable families wearing them. French boys primarily wore kilts in the mid-19th century. We are not sure when the style first appeared in France outside of traditiional areas like Normandy. Presumably it would have beern the 1850s. Men may have worn kilts earlier, but as a children's outfit it probably was due to Queen Victoria's inspiration in the 1840s. We are not sure when kilts as boys wear first bergan appearing in France. The Prince of Wales (the future Edward VII) who was about 14 years old accompanied his parents to Paris on a state visit in 1855. He wore a Scottish kilt and caused a sensation. His outfit included a large black tam wit eagle feather and streamers, black velvetvjacket with small Eton collar and bow, plaid kilt, and Argyle kneesocks. I'm not sure what the young Prince of Wales tought about his kilts, although he commonly wore them as an adult, so unlike the current Prince of Wales, he may have liked them. The result of the Prince's outfit was fashion sensation. From that time, kilts and tartan dresses for children or a common fixture in French fashion magazines until after the turn of the century. Parisian fashion magazines depict boys wearing Scottish kilts with full Highland regalia during the 1860s. They still appear in the 1880s, but appaer to be somewhat less popular. Our information, however, is still very limited. French boys in the in the 1890s rarely wore kilts and almost never in the 20th century.

The 1800s

Kilts were not a major style for French boys. They may have been worn as a kind of folk costume as in Scotkand in traditionmal celtic areas like Britainy, but we can not yet cionfirm this.

The 1850s

We do see French boys from fashionable families wearing kilts. French boys primarily wore kilts in the mid-19th century. We are not sure when the style first appeared in France outside of traditiional areas like Btiainy. Presumably it would have beern the 1850s. Men may have worn kilts earlier, but as a children's outfit it probably was due to Queen Victoria's inspiration in the 1840s. We are not sure when kilts as boys wear first bergan appearing in France. The Prince of Wales (the future Edward VII) who was about 14 years old accompanied his parents to Paris on a state visit in 1855. He wore a Scottish kilt and caused a sensation. His outfit included a large black tam wit eagle feather and streamers, black velvetvjacket with small Eton collar and bow, plaid kilt, and Argyle kneesocks. I'm not sure what the young Prince of Wales tought about his kilts, although he commonly wore them as an adult, so unlike the current Prince of Wales, he may have liked them. The result of the Prince's outfit was fashion sensation. From that time, kilts and tartan dresses for children or a common fixture in French fashion magazines until after the turn of the century. As we have found very fewc French Dags, we can not yet conform this from the photographic record.

The 1860s

Parisian fashion magazines depict boys wearing Scottish kilts with full Highland regalia during the 1860s. We know much more about the 1860s, primarily because the CDV emerged as an important photographic format. And they were made in much larger numbers than Dags and Ambros. Thus we see some French boys wearing kilt outfits in the photographic records. We not only see Highland kilt outfits, but we also begin to see the nmore restrained kilt suits with out many of the Highland fashion elements. We do not yet have a good feel for the prevalence of kilt outfits. We think that they were primarily worn by boys from affluent, fashionable families. It was, however, not a style limitd to fashionable Paris. We see kilt outfits worn in provincial cities as well, but again mostly affluent families. Our French archive is not yet large enough to give a very good idea about the prevalence of these garments, but clearly they were worn. We suspect that the kilt suits were more common than the more elaborate High land outfits, but can not yet confirm this.

The 1880s

Kilts still appear in the 1880s. The French seem ti take some liberties to Scottish Highland fasgions as we can see in the examole fromk a fashion magazine here (figure 1). The fancy Highland kilt outfit appeared in a 1867 fashion magazine (figure 1). They appaer to be somewhat less popular. Our information, however, is still very limited.

The 1890s

French boys in the in the 1890s rarely wore kilts and almost never in the 20th century.

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Created: July 10, 2003
Last updated: 5:00 AM 1/29/2014