American Little Lord Fauntleroy Suits: Age Grading--6 Year Olds

Figure 1.--We do not know much about the boys here, but we do know ther names: Milfiord, Waybne, and Elmer. And we have a good idea when it was tajken alost certainlyb uin tghe 189os, because Niorth Dalota was only admitted to the Union in November 1889. The boys look tyo b about 4-10 years old. Milford looks to be about 6, possibly 7 year sold. The two younger boys are dressed virtually alije, although their ruffled collars and jackets are a little differet. The only basic differebce is that Wayne has long hair done in loose curls. Milford has shirt hair kike his older briother. Elmer wears a stanbdard doubke=breasred suit with knee pants. All three have black long stockings. The studio was Glerum in Devil's Lake, North Dakota. Which is interesting because it shows that the Fauntleroy Craze was not limited to fashionabke big cities.

We still see quite a few little brothers wearing Fauntlelroy suits at age 6 years, but not nearly as many as was the case at pre school ages -- 5 years old and younger. Here we see a bioy who is 6-7 years old dressed just like his little brother although their hair is done differently (figure 1). Mothers had different ways of doung age grading, even with Fautleroy suits. They might chasnge the jacket, collar or bow in some way. Or as in this case they may change the hair style. Age 6 years was a major transition point for boys because this was when they began school. Thus in a lot of families we see boys younger than 6 years wearing Fauntleroy suits and those 6 years and older wearing more mature suits. This is confirmed by school photographs. We see some boys wearing Fauntleroy suits to school, but not very many and it was normally reserved for the younger children. Of course this did not mean a boy might still have a Fauntleroy suit at home for special occassions. And well to do families in the late-19th century might tutor their children at home. We note quite a number of boys older than 6 wearing Fauntleroy suits, but it was not nearly as common for boys older than 6 years. And this is conformed by numerous example we have found of age grading. Of course at age 6 years, most boys would have gotten another type of knee pants suit. The North Dakota boys here are a good example, but as the older boy is few years older, so we are not sure just what the cut off year was, but it is likely that Milford was about ready for a suit like his big brother. This portrait was taken in the 1890s. There were major changes in the 1890s.

Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing other related pages:
[Dresses] [Breeching] [Kilts] [Smocks] [Pinafores] [Sailor Hats] [Blouses]
[Ring Bearers] [Long hair] [Ringlet curls] [Hair bows] [Bangs] [Collars] [Bows]

Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Introduction] [Activities] [Biographies] [Chronology] [Clothing styles] [Countries]
[Bibliographies] [Contributions] [FAQs] [Glossaries] [Images] [Links] [Registration] [Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]

Created: 6:04 AM 12/9/2010
Last updated: 6:22 AM 8/4/2023