Boys' Tunics: Accompanying Garments


Figure 1.--This American boy hd hs portait taken with his dog, probably in the 1900s. His tunic is done in the sailor style. Notice how the cap matches the suit. The tunic suit isdone in the sailor style.

Several garments besides the actual tunic suit garments were commonly worn with tunics These were not commonly part of the suit like the pants. Some of he hats may have matched the suit, but this was usually not the case. There was no cap or hat made especially for different styles of tunic suits. The most common headgear for boys wearing tunic suits were wide-brimmed sailor hats. While the styles of the hats were rather basic, they varied a good deal in the width of the brim. The combination of sailor hats and tunic suits appears to have been essentially a coincidence. Some boys wore their tunics with belts of widely varying widths. These appears to have been decorative without any practical purpose. Normally they match the material of the tunic both in msaterial and color. Boys in tunic suits wore mostly ankle socks or long stockings. Knee socks were not common. The long stockings were both white and colored. The ankle socks were mostly white, but colored socks were not unknown. Boys wore a great variety of shoes and stockings, primarily depending on the formality of the activity involved. For the first time boys appeared in bare feat without giving the impression of poverty. Boys by the time that tunic suits became popular were no longer wearing heavy hightop shoes. Rather more comfortable oxfords or even sandals were more common.

Belts

Most boys wore their tunics with belts of widely varying widths. Almost all the portraits we have moted show boys wearing tunic suits with these belts. These appears to have been decorative without any practical purpose. They usyally were attached to the tunic jacket with a kind of saggig affect. The pants the boy was wearing and which a belt was designed to hold up were under the tunic jacket and thus could be suported bt a belt on the tunic. Normally the belts match the material of the tunic both in material and color. We have, however, noted some of these belts in other materials such as leather and in contrasting colors. Most were straight cut belts, but we have noted other with more stylistic designs. We noted belts of varying length.

Hosiery

Boys in tunic suits wore mostly ankle socks or long stockings. Knee socks were not common. The long stockings were both white and colored. The ankle socks were mostly white, but colored socks were not unknown.

Footwear

Boys wore a great variety of shoes and stockings, primarily depending on the formality of the activity involved. For the first time boys appeared in bare feat without giving the impression of poverty. Boys by the time that tunic suits became popular were no longer wearing heavy hightop shoes. Rather more comfortable oxfords or even sandals were more common. For dressy occasions boys might wear strap shoes. Tunic suits were one of the first outfits in which boys were photographed in bare feet. Boys in dress clothes always wore shoes in the 19th Century, usually with long stockings. These long wool stockings must have been uncomfortable during the summer. Many images after the turn of the century show younger boys in bare feat during the summer. In the past this was not acceptable in affluent families as it suggested that the family was too poor to afford shoes.












HBC







Navigate the Historic Boys' Clothing Tunic pages:
[Return to the Main tunic page]
[Return to the Main historical tunic trend page]
[National styles] [Tunic styles] [Tunic accessories] [ Pantalettes] [ Stockings]



Navigate the Historic Boys' Clothing Web Site:
[Introduction] [Activities] [Biographies] [Chronology] [Clothing styles] [Countries]
[Bibliographies] [Contributions] [Essays] [FAQs] [Glossaries] [Satellites] [Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]




Created: 9:36 PM 10/16/20054
Last updated: 1:11 AM 1/19/2007