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We see quite a few American 5-year olds wearing kilt suits. There were not as many 5-year olds as 3 and 4 year olds because many boys were breeched by 5 years of age. We are assuming that boys wearing kilt suits also wore other skirted garments when not dressing up. We see many boys wearing pants by age 5 years, mostly knee pants, but this varied chronologically. There were still many boys wearng kilt suits into the 1890s. And this is confirmed by the photographic record. We believe that the relative prevalence in the photogtaphic record is a good indicatpr in the actual prevalence at the time at least among the rising middle class. We suspect that even more boys would have worn kilt suits except that the Fauntleroy Craze was so pronounced. Mothers who might normally have wanted to keep dressing heir sons in skirted garments were attracted by the flan=mboyant Fauntleroy style. After age 5 years, the number of boys wearing kilt suits falls off precipitously because so many boys began school.
Age was a major factor in wearing kilt suits. Boys at age 5 years still spent most of their time at home. Age 5 years was the last age that this was the case. This is important because boys began school at 6 years of age. And we know from school portraits that boys did not begin school dressed in kilt suits. Many boys wore suits, but not kilt suits. Kindergartens were just appearing in the 1890s. And pre-schools did not exist. Boys would not have begun school wearing a kilt suit. Although we are not entirely sure that one breeched, boys imediately stopped wearing kilt suits. But at age 5 years they were not yet in school. So it is the last age that we see really large number of boys wearing kilt suits or other skirted garments. That does not nean that all boys were breeched at age 6 years. But it does mean that virtually all boys attending school were. We assumed that they once breeched for school that they no longer wore kilt suits and other sirted garments. We wonder, however, if a few thrifty moms might have brought out the kilt suits for special occasions for a while. We can not conform that this occurred, but it is a possibility. And of course boys who did not begin school at vage 6 years or those boys schooled at home might have been breeched later than other boys.
Another factor affecting the wearing of kilt suits along along with age was chronology. We do not see kilt suits before mid-century. From the beginning, 5 years of age was a common age for wearing kilt suits. We see a few in the 1860s, but many more in the 70s. We think more boys wore kilt suits in the 1870s and 80s, than the 1890s, especially the late-90s. The portrait of the boys on the previous page was taken about 1890. The kilt suit at the time was still a very popular garment. This is, however, just our preliminay assessment. We think 5-year olds wore kilt suit throughout this period. We are not sure about the 60s as we have so few examples. We commonly see 5 year olds wearing kilt suits during the 1870s, 80s, and early- even mid-90s. We see 5-year olds wore kilt suits somewhat less commonly in the late-1890s and especially after the turn-of-the century in the 1900s. This is a time-line trend we are still working on. By the end of the 1890s more boys were being breeched earlier. This meant that more 5-year olds were wearing knee pants. The kilt suit after the turn-of-the 20th century declined in popularity as did the convention of dressing boys in skirted garments. We think 6-year olds were more varied chronologically, but 5 year olds commoly wore kilt suits throughout this period. Only the tunic continued to be an extrmely popular skirted garment for boys. The same basic chronological trends seem to have played out for dresses, but over time 5-year olds not yet breeched were more likely to wear kilt suits than dresses. The kilt suit came to be seen was seen as a little more appropriae for oler pre-school boys than dreses. This is a little diffiult to assess despite a very substantial archive of portrait howing boys wearing kilt suits. . Many cabinet cards are dated and others have th aes of the children. The number of portrait that are both dated and have the age of the children are very limite. Thus we have to rely on estimates which intriduce a degree of uncertainty.
We see quite a few American 5-year olds wearing kilt suits. There were not as many 5-year olds as 3 and 4 year olds because many boys were breeched by 5 years of age. We are assuming that boys wearing kilt suits also wore other skirted garments when not dressing up. We see many boys wearing pants by age 5 years, mostly knee pants, but this varied chronologically. There were still many boys wearng kilt suits into the 1890s. And this is confirmed by the photographic record. We believe that the relative prevalence in the photogtaphic record is a good indicatpr in the actual prevalence at the time at least among the rising middle class. We suspect that even more boys would have worn kilt suits except that the Fauntleroy Craze was so pronounced. Mothers who might normally have wanted to keep dressing heir sons in skirted garments were attracted by the flamboyant Fauntleroy style. After age 5 years, the number of boys wearing kilt suits falls off precipitously because so many boys began school.
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