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Berets and tams are related garments. They do not have peaks, but are somewhat reated to caps as a more informal headwear style than hats. We note younger American boys wearing tams in the 19th century. We have not found many examples, but in the 19th century we do see tams. In the 20th century berets were more common, but kilt suits had gone out of style. Complicating this, girls in the early 20th century commonly referred to berets as tams. There is a difference. Tams were fuller and floppier than berets. We do not see boys wearing berets in the 19th cenurry, with or without kilt suits. Tam is short for Tam O'Shanter which as Scottish connections. Thus some mothers would have seen it as appropriate for kilt outfits like kilt suits. It was thus a popular choice among especially fashion concious mothers, however, the photograpic record suggests it was not one of the more common choices.
We have not found images of boys weatin berets with kilt suits. In fact we do mnot ahave any American images of boys wearin berets at all in the 19th century.
Tams or Tam O'Shanters were another popular choice to be worn with kilt suits. Presumbably the Scottish association was part of the reason tams were chosen. It was thus a popular choice among especially fashion concious mothers, however, the photograpic record suggests it was not one of the more common choices. We see some boys wearing tams with kilt suits. We note good-sized tams with poms on the top. Tams were one of many varied types of headwear worn by boys with klilt suits. Thankfully some moms included the headwear in the studio portraits. The tams we have noted have mostly been dark colors, but we do not know just what specific colors. Presumably a color was chosen to match the kilt suit. Tams were a headware type worn by both boys and girls. We note boys wearing tams with kilts suits during the 1870s-80s. We are not yet sure about the 1890s.
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Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing kilt pages:
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[Return to the Main American kilt suit page]
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[Scottish kilts]
[Scottish boys clothing]
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Navigate the Related HBC pages:
[Lace collar]
[Tams]
[Floppy bows]
[Cut-away jackets]
[Kilt suits]
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