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American boys wore Kilt suits with a variety of hats. Men also commonly worev hats at the time, but different styles. As with caps, we notice a wide range of hats. Some of the hats were quite large, certainly larger than the caps. Some of the youngest boys had the largest hats. Given the time that kilt suits were popular, we suspect that at least some boys wore rounded-crown hats and that is confirmed by the photograohic record. As sailor styles became more popular, some boys must have worn wide-rimmed sailor hats, a style related to the ronded-crown hats, only with a wider brim. Sailor styles were so popular that they were often worn with other styles than sailor suits. There were other headwear worn, such as different styles of straw hats. We also see some boaters. Most of the hats we have fojund were straw hats. The rounded-crown hats hats varied and the folde brim hats were all fabrics. But we see mostly straw hats in the photographic record.
We notice hats which we now know as boaters being worn with kilt suits. We are not sure what they were called at the time. The boater had a flat top and modest brims. It was more common for men, but boys did wear them./ It may have been seen as a type of sailor hat. In many cases they look a little different than modern boaters because the central cilinder is higher. We first notice boaters with kilt suits in the 1870s. The boater was developed earlier in Britain, but this is about the same time we see younger boys wearing them. The boater became very popular for men during the summer, but boys may have begun wearing them first. It is also when we first see larger numbers of kilt suits. We are not sure when they stopped being worn with kilt suits. The hat bands varied. Some were very palin. The boater was a type of straw hat. We notice both natural-colored straw and dark-dyed colored straw. Boaters were worn with other types of suits as well. Girls also wore boaters, but not very commonly and only after the boater had become a well esrabblished style. It was not a dominant style with kilt suits, but we do see several examples.
We see many boys with a kind of soft hat with the brim folded up looking more like a cap. It has some resemblance to the swabie cap of the 20th century, but the crown commonly emerges above the folded up brim. We have no idea what to call this cap. Early caalogs are not very good at specifying names of different styled headwear. We see boys in kilt suits waring them as well as older school-age boy.
The rounded-crown hat was one of the most popular children's headwear style during much of the 19th century. We note both straw and felt hats. Given the time that kilt suits were popular, some boys wore rounded-crown hats. As they were so popular, many boys must have worn them with kilt suits. These hats had a variety of variations involving the brim and crown. Some have somewhat larger brims curved upward, beginning to look more like th folded brim hats. These rounded-crown hats were a style that was not very common in Europe. This was probably most common in the 1870s when kilt suits first began to be commonly worn. These hats were made in both felt and straw. Presumably boys wore both types.
There were other headwear worn, such as different styles of straw hats. Straw hats became increasuingly common after the 1848 Califirnia gold rush. There was no inter-contuinental railroad at the time. The '49ers got to California by sea, many crossing the Istmus of Panama where they came into contact with high-quality straw hats. (Many of the hats were actually made in Ecuador further south.) This included hats not done in sailor styles. We see wide-brimmed, rounded, crown, and boater hats boys wore included both hats done in sailor and other styles. Except for the boater, other materials were also used for these hats, but straw hats were very common for summer wear. And the wide-brimmed hats for boys were almost all done in straw. We see many examples in the late-19th and very early-20th century.
We see many younger American boys wearing wide-brimmed sailior hats. As a result, this was one of the headwear types that we see being worn with kilt suits. There may have been a seasonal factor here. These hats woukd have been impractical in string winter winds. And we see them being worn with both kilts suits anf kilt/skirts worn witn just blouses. Kilt suits were just one of the garments worn with these hats. The wide-brimmed sailor hat is probably more associated with Fauntleroy suits and tunic suits, but this may be because illustrators made this connection, not because it actually existed. For some reason, illustrators were less likely to depict kilt suits. The photographic record, however, shows that they were very commonly worn. And while we see some wide-brimmed hats with kilt suits, they were just one of several sttles. We don't have enough images to make any valid age assessments, but wide-brimmed sailor hats seem most common with the pre-school boys wearing kilt suits.
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