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There were three major garments associated with kilt suits. Kilt suits were done as both two and three-piece suits. The major garments were the jacket and kilt
and there were a range of variations for these garments. Some suits also came with vests. Boys commonly, but not always wore the jackets. The jackets came in a variety of styles. Early suits came with cut-away jackets. These jackets commonly did not match the kilt-skirt which were commonly done in plaid patterns. We note different styled kilt-skirts. Many were done as long, pleated kilts with a unpleated front pannel. They were a range of other stles, including what look obstensibly like skirts. We know less about the vests as they were normally covered by the jacket.
American boys wore a range of headwear with kilt suits. We believe they wore Scottish styles such a glengaries and tams, but we are not sure how common these were. Perhaps more common were sailor styles, both sailor caps and wide-brimmed sailor hts. There were other headwear worn, but we believe that Scottish styles and sailor styles were probably the most common. Our primary source of information is studio portraits. Unfortunately headwear is often not included in portraits. We have found a few snapshots as well which usually do include the headwear. We are not sure how headwear styles worn with kilt suits may have varied with Europeans.
The classic Faintleroy suit consisted of a cut-away jacket almost bqlways withoutba collar. Some mothers also used collar-buttoning jackets which often did have a collar. The original kilt-suits which we first see in numbers (1860s) were worn with small collars which was the fashion at the time. Collars gradually increased in size during the 1879s, but it was the 1880s with Fauntleroy Craze that huge collars began to appear. The boy here is agood example, but there were even much larger collars. The largest collars were the ruffled collars attached to Fauntleroy blouses. For some reason they were done with rectangular back flaps, rather like a sailor blouse. Lace collars were more likely to follow a baically circular pattern. The boy here is wearing a pin-on lace collar (figure 1). Notice that there are no wrist cuffs that Fauntleroy blouses often had. The Fauntleroy Craze in Ameriac was so pervasive that mothers put all kinds of Fauntleroy items, especially larg collars, on a wide variety of outfits, including regular suits, tunic suits, and even sailor suits
Most all kilt suits came with jackets. We are not entirely sure just how common it was the wear the jackets. We see some boys with just blouses and kilts. We think this may have been a prevalent practice during the summer. It probably was more common to wear the jacket, or probably more accurately to be photogrphed with the jacket. The jackets came in a quite a variety of styles, some more popular than others. Early suits came with short cut-away jackets. These jackets commonly did not match the kilt-skirt which were commonly done in plaid patterns. We have also noted both single and double breasted styles. Some had noticeable reversed "V"s at the bottom of the jacket. Most of these jackets were made rather like suit coats. We have also noted jackets styled more like shirts without lapels and buttoning at the neck. These jackets were longer than the early small cut-away jackets. We also notice some jackets coming almost to the hem of the kilt shirt.
We note some boys wearing blouses with kilts and skirt/kilts. This is a little complicated. There seems to have been two approaches with blouses. One is a kilt suit in which the blouse matched or was corrdinated with the kilt. Some boys seem to have worn dark-colored blouses of a havy material that seems to have been similar to to the material of the kilt skirt. We are not entirely sure what was worn under these heavier blouse. They were not worn with the fancy-collared blouses. These heavier blouses were worn instead of suit jackets. Some were done as sailor middy blouses. The other approach was a regular blouse worn with a kilt-suit. This was not a kilt suit. In fact in may have been a summer approch in whih the boy did not wear his heavy kilt suit jacket. While large-collar blouses were not worn with them, we do note fancy pin-on collars like lace collrs. A good exammole is Fred Wulf, we think in the 1880s. The second type of blouse worn with kilt-skirts were the white or light-colored blouses worn during the summer. These blouses might be worn with a kilt suit jacket, but the jacket might not be worn during warm summer weather.
Many suits were worn with matching vests or waistcoats for our British readers. At mid-19th century contrasting vests predominated, but by the 1870s when kilt suits became popular, matching vests were almost universal. Some boys wore blouses without vests, but vests were very common. We know less about the vests as they were normally covered by the jacket. We know that contrasting vests were less common. The construction of the vests, however, is often difficult to ascertain because the vests are usually covered by the jackets. As best we can tell the vests were collar-buttoning garments. Boys at the time did not wear neckties, thus vests did not have V-front cuts. The buttins extended from the waist to the collar. WE are not sure how the back was done. Boys wearing kilt suits with a vest, sometimes wore the jacket open or partially open. We do not, however, note boys wearing just the vest with the kilt-skirt. We see blouses and kilts, but not vests and kilts. The vest may have been worn seasonally, but we are not positive about that as few of the available images are dated.
Kilt suits were worn with a wide variety of skirted garments. We note different styled kilt-skirts. Many were done as long, pleated kilts with a unpleated front pannel. I think this was done to emphasize that the garment was a kilt and not just a skirt. They were a range of other stles, including what look obstensibly like ordinary skirts. These were both pleated and plain. We believe that the kilts worn with kilt suits were almost always bodice kilts, but do not yet have conformation of this. They generally were either plain colors or mute plaids. Some had double breasted styling repeated in the kilt. Blouces were nornmally bloused at the waist because the kilt skirt was normally worn with a bodice so shirt tails could not be tucked in.
We notice boys wearing kiltsuits with a variety of undergarments. The choices here are widely varied. Here we are not entirely talking about underwear. We can tell little from the photographic record about underwear, but we have some information about undergarments. We are speaking of a variety of garments. Our information here is entirely based on what can be observe in the photographic record. We have not yet found any written information in period fashion or women's magazines. Often we can not tell because the undergarments did not show below the hrm of the kiltskirt. But in many portraits we can tell what the boy was wearing. The garments we have observe include petticoats, pantalettes/drawers, and trousers (knee pants and bloomer knickers). Some of the trousers were suit triusers, matching the material of the jacket and kilt. We are not sure if a boy wearing trousers with kilts suits can be considered breeched. Nor or we sure what the purpose was. Was the boy considerd too old to be wearing skirted garments. If so, why not dress him in a knee pants suit? The choice of these garments varied from family to family. A factor here was age, but as far as we can tell, there was no well established vonventions.
American boys almost always wore long stockings with their kilt suits. We see European boys wearing short socks with a variety if outdits, but this was not very common in America. I'm not sure why this was. But it was a very pronounced comvention. The stockings American boys wore with kilt suits were usually dark colors. We rarely see striped socks whivh wrre common at the time. We normally see dark colors, but we are not sure about the actual colors. A few boys wore striped stockings and by the 1890s, black was veery commom. Earlier we believe the children wore various colors.
The boys almost always wore high-top button shoes with kilt suits.
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