Figure 1.--Here we see an unidentifiued British ambrotype portrait in a large, ornate frame. We at first thought the boy was wearing a blouse, but if ou look closely, it is clearly a short tunic. He is wearing the tunic with a detschable Peter Pan collar and very small blue bow. Botice the checked trousers ghst do not match the tunic. The portrait is not dated, but would have probably been taken in the late-1850s or early-60s.

The tunic itself was done in a range of differet styles, decoration, color, length, and construction. There were both belted and unbelted tunics. We note both tunic suits (with matching pants) and tunic worn with other pants. There were many stylistic variations. Many tunics were plain. Others were done with a range of elaborate stylistic elements. One popular style was a diagonal element across the front of the tunic. We see many tunics with little or no decoration and others with elaborate decoration such as embroidery. We notice different colors being used, but because of the black and white photography of the day we are left without information on the different hues. We suspeck that blue, brown, and grey were the major colors, but we have noted other colors such as burgundy and forrest green in the few paintings we havve found. We notice a range of lengths. Some tunics were quite short, just a little below the waist. Others were down to the knees, in some cases even below the knees. There were variations with the construction. Some were done wih and without collars. Most were done with long sleeves, but we have seen some with half sleeves. Belts were very common. This was an ornamental item with no practical purpose. Some tunics were worn with matchingh pants making up a suits. Most of the early photographs show tunics without matching pants. Subsequently we brgin to see matching outfits.

Created: 8:47 PM 5/30/2018
Last updated: 8:47 PM 5/30/2018