Figure 1.-- Here we see an unidentified boy, we think in the 1910s wearing a flat cap. Mother has carefully coordinated the colors. He seem to be wearing a balmoral with the tunic, although it is a little hard to tell. Notice how it marches the color of the tunic suit. Put your cursor on the image to see the cap more clearly.

As best we can tell, caps were more popular to be worn with tunics than hats. We see American boys shifting from hatrs to caps after the turn-of the 20th century. Some younger boys wearing tunics still wore hats, but even with these younger boys we still see caps. This was not the case with illustrations, but it is suggested by the photographic record. This was particularly the case of sailor tunics. Often sailor caps were made in the same or cordinated colors. A good example is the floppy sailor cap worn by Ellis Gray Holden in 1908. The tunic suits were, however, were worn with many different types of caps. I think this was seen as more of a style for older boys. An exception was the darker colored tunic suits worn to school. We do not see it being worn, however, the popular flat cap which was becoming a standard for school age boys in the 1910s when tunics were very popular. We have begun to assess the different types of caps worn. We have not made much progress as many boys are not wearing headwear in the photograpic record. We are not sure if they just took them off for studio portraits. But even in family snapshots we see boys without headwear.

Flat Caps

We do not see many boys wearing tunic suits the popular flat cap which were becoming a standard for school age boys in the 1910s when tunics were very popular. We do see some flat caps. Thge unidentified boy here is an example (figure 1).

Balmorals

We see some caps that liik rather like balmorals. This was a Scottish style looking something like a tam. We do not see the other Scottish style cap, the glengary.

Sailor-style Caps

Sailor tunics were just one of the many styles, however, it seems to have been the most popular. We see quite a few boys wearing caps rather than hats. This was particularly the case of sailor tunics. And we see different styles of sailor caps. Often sailor caps were made in the same or cordinated colors. A good example is the floppy sailor cap worn by Ellis Gray Holden in 1908. This suggests tht they were purchased with the tunic as a complete suit.

Tam

Created: 8:03 PM 2/28/2014
Last edited: 8:03 PM 2/28/2014