Figure 1.--This American boy seems to be wearing a tunic suit for his Easter outfit--notice the bunny. We are not sure where the photograph was taken, but it may have been a city church. Notice how short the tunic is, well above the knees. The style of the tunic suggests that the 1910s. The unidentified boy looks to be about 5-6 years old.

The tunic was a very versatile garment. While tunics were commonly worn for play, they were also worn for more formal events by younger boys. We notice quite a range of dressy occassions for which tunic suits were worn. We see them being worn for studio portraits, church events, holiday events, family gatherings, parties, weddings, and other formal events. Here we see a boy wearing a tunic suit for Easter (figure 1). Easter of course was when adults abd children wore new outfits. But there were many other holidays and formal event for which children were dressed up in formal tunic oitfits. We note an 8-year old Wilford wearing a formal tunic outfit. He is pictured with a girth weho was the ring bearer. Tunics seem to have often been a younger boy's best outfit rather than the suits commonly worn by older boys. Tunics were not the only outfits younger boys wore for these occassions, but they were one of the most popular styles for pre-school boys.

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Created: 11:48 PM 3/27/2011
Last edited: 4:05 AM 12/9/2021