Figure 1.--This American boy wears a white or light-colored tunic with a wide sailor collar, below the knee bloomer knickers, white socks, and strap shoes. I believe the photograph was taken in the late 1890s.

I have relatively little information on late 19th century tunics. I do not think they were as popular as earlier in the century or subsequently in the early 20th century. I believe that tunics were a particularly popular style in France, although e see them in many other countries including America and Germany.

Popularity

I have little information on the popularity of late 19th Century tunics. I believe that tunics were not one of the more popular styles, but this is my preliminary assessment and much more work is needed

Style

We do not at this time have enough tunic images from the late 19th century to make much of an assessment on styling. We have seen tunics od widely varying lengths frim knee-length or even longer to only a little below the waist. We note tunics with diagonl tyling durung the 1870s. We see that in several countries, including America and Germany. . One of the most popular styles by the 1890s were Russian box-pleated tunics. The other major style was tunics with sailor collars. Boys tunics almost always had belts. Pleats were also common, which was not the case earlier in the century.

Pants

We note different kinds of pants being worn with tunic suits.

Pantalettes

Younger boys in the 19th Century often worn with tunics with pantalettes. This began increasingly less common in the late 19th Century. Some bous still wore then in the 1870s and 80s, but this became much less common in the 1890s.

Knickers

with matching bloomers and/or knickers.In the early decades of the 19th Century boys wore long trousers under their tunics which could be quite long. Neither boys or girls exposed their bare legs. Some younger boys might wear lace trimed pantalettes under their tunics instead of long trousers. As the Century progressed boys knee-length bloomer knickers appeared. For the most part boys in knee length garments wore long stockings, but some younger boys began to appear with bare knees, a fashion to be developed in the 20th Century. Boys still in tunics by the end of the 19th Century commonly wore knee-length bloomers and, unlike his early 19th Century predecesor, rather than long trousers.

Knee pants

We also notice boys wearing tunic suits with kneepants. A good example is an America boy, Stirling G. Anderson, probably in the early 1970s.

Age

Boys wore tunics from the time they werebreeched, usually about 4-6 years of age to about 7 or 8 years of age, although smaller boys of 9 or 10 might still wear them.

Materials

No information available yet.

Color

I believe lighter colored tunics were the most common. But this is a topic I am still researching.

Shoes and Stockings

Boys in the 1870s and 80s almost always wore their tunics with long stockings. By the 1890s, especially as the turn of the century apprpoached, wearing tunics with short stckings became increasingly common.

I'm not sure about shoe styles yet. Dressier tunics might be worn with strap shoes.

Countries

I believe that this was a particularly popular style in France. This is, however, just a preliminary assessment I am still researching. We note American boys wearing tunics during the 1870s. Disagonal sut tunics were popular.

Created: January 30, 1999
Last updated: 1:28 AM 3/14/2007