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There were also two types of suits based on the skirted garment. Kilt suits were done with both kilts and plain skirts. Many were done with skirts that had various types of kilt styling amd we also notice quite a few of these outfits done with skirts that have no kilt styling at all or just pleating. We note these skirt suits from the 1870s through the 1890s. They probably appeared in the 1860s, but we do not yet have verifiuable examples from the 60s.
We are not sure that we should treat these skirt suits as aseparate type, they seem to be just a varriant of the kilt skirt. Probably many mothers simply diud not want to bother with the added complexity of kilt styling. The most common type of kilt styling was a front pannel and buttons. Many of these skirts were not even pleated. They be done in a plaid or plaid-like pattern, but they have no kilt styling. A good example is Benjamin Morris Whitlock in fashionable New York City during the late-1860s. He wears what looks to us to be a skirt, although it is pleated--wide box plears. The kilt styling used in kilt vsuits is not necesarily the styling of a real kilt, but here we are talking about any effort to differentiate it from a lain skirt. Often the skirts do not match the jackets. This was common with Fautleroy kilt suits, but not as common with other kilt suits. We blieve that these skirt outfits should be called a suit made with a skirt rather than a kilt as a jacketed skirt or skirt suit rather tham a kilt suit. The kilt/skirts were highly variable, but they did not determine the type of kilt suit. Even so we plan to have a close look at the kilts and skirts to assess the variations.
Kilt suits are largely differentiated by the type of jacket. This was yhe general convention for suits. There were also different types of suits based on the skirted garment. Kilt suits were done with both kilts and plain skirts as well as skirted garments somewhere between the two, Many were done with skirts that had various types of kilt styling amd we also notice quite a few of these outfits done with skirts that have no kilt styling at all or just pleating. We are not entirely sure how the skirted garments varied chronologically. We are not sure that we should treat these skirt suits as a separate type, they seem to be just a varriant of the kilt skirt. Probably many mothers simply diud not want to bother with the added complexity of kilt styling. We notice that mothers often chose plaid material even when doing plain skirts. The most common type of kilt styling was a front pannel and buttons. Many of these skirts were not even pleated. They be done in a plaid or plaid-like pattern, but they have no kilt styling. A good example is Benjamin Morris Whitlock in fashionable New York City during the late-1860s. He wears what looks to us to be a skirt, although it is pleated--wide box plears. The kilt styling used in kilt suits is not necesarily the styling of a real kilt, but here we are talking about any effort to differentiate it from a lain skirt. Often the skirts do not match the jackets. This was common with Fautleroy kilt suits, but not as common with other kilt suits. We blieve that these skirt outfits should be called a suit made with a skirt rather than a kilt as a jacketed skirt or skirt suit rather tham a kilt suit. The kilt/skirts were highly variable, but they did not determine the type of kilt suit. Even so we plan to have a close look at the kilts and skirts to assess the variations.
We note these skirt suits from the 1870s through the 1890s. They probably appeared in the 1860s, but we do not yet have verifiable examples from the 60s.
Despite the use of the skirt, the kilt/skirt suit ws a garment only worn by boys. Girls wore both dresses and skirts, but nevera kilt suit. We do seeb girls wearing jcketed dresses.
We see a wide range of patterns cbeing used for these kilt/skirt suits. By far the most popular was plaiud or plaid-like patterns. There were many other patterns, including flat or or material without patterns. Plaid was, however, the most popular. Bold plaids were used, but we also see very muted plaids. Bold plasids were popular for Highland kilts, we see the muted plaids more commonly for the kilt suits.
Kilt suits were done with matching tops (jackets) and bottoms (kilts/skirts). The oprimary exception was the Fauntleroy kikt suit for which small velvet cut-away jackets were used. We also notice suits without matching gtops and nottoms. Usually these were th suits dolnme with plain skirts rather than kilts.
The Highland kilt was correctly worn at knee length. Ir was rarely worn below or above the knee, but right at the knee. American kilt suits had kilts and skirts that were usually worn lower than that. We see many boys with hem lines at calf-level, sometimes even lower. We never see boys with kilt suits that had hem lines above the knee. We are not sure why this was. Some mothes may have been plnning for the child's growth. It also may have reflected general attitudes toward covering the legs. We note boys wearing knee panbts that tended to be calf-level or at least well below the knee until the 1890s. We do see yoinger girls with higher hem ines, but for some reasin this was less common for boys, especially American boys.
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