American Fauntleroy Blouses: The 1900s--Age

Figure 1.-- Here we see two unidentified children. The baby and a boy who looks about 4 year old. He wears a classic Fauntleroy blouse and colorful floppy bow. The portrait is undated, but the mount and white whicker furniture suggest the early-1900s. The studio was M. Stengler in Watertown, Wisconsin.

Fauntleroy blouses were worn by pre-school and school age boys throughout the 1900s decade. We see boys of quite a wide age range wearing Fauntleroy collars. This varied depending on the fashion inclintions of mother. There were different types of Fauntleroy blouses at the time. We see fewer of the fancy classic blouses and the age of the boys wearing them was declining, especially after the early years of the decade. Mostly we see boy about 3-5 years of age, although a few slightly older boys wore them depending on mothers fashion sences. The classic blouses were not commonly worn to school, but might be for dress up occassions. The less fancy patterned blouses were much more common andv worn by school age boys to about 13-14 years of age. We see these mostly during the summer when boys were dressing up for church or other occasion. when suitjackets were not being worn. Little boys in the 1890s still wore dresses and other skirted garments. This practice was declining even in the 1890s, but still persisted somewhat in the 1900s. The age of breeching varied from family to family, but breeching was commonly about 3-4 years of age. This declined in the 2900s as the practice of yongr boysweaing skirted garments become less common. We think the Fauntlerpoy Craze was part of the reason for this. Mothers were so anxious to outfit their sons in Fauntleroy suits that they that they seem to have breech them a little before than was common earler in the century. We still see some Fauntleroy suits, but only at a nery early age. We see a few boys who look to be about 2 years old but it is about age 3 years that we begin to see really large numbers. The boy here looks to be about 4 years old (figure 1). He wears a classic Fauntleroy blouse and colorful floppy bow. The poertrait is undated, but the mount and white whicke furniture suggest the early-1900s. The Michigan boy on the previous oage looks to be about 5 years old. We not only see a few of the enormously elaborte blouses designed to be worn by younger boys with Fauntleroy suits, but we see less fancy blouses for older boys that were worn without the classic cut-away Fauntleroy suit jacket. They were for the most part less extremne than the classic blouses for younger boys made to be worn with velvet cut-away jckets. We seen these blouses worn to the early teens, at least 13 year olds. They tended to be worn during the summer without jackets. We have had to use undated images in buildingb this page. Of course this introduces possible error. We incourage our reraders to assess our age estimates.

Age 2 Years

Fauntleroy blouses were worn by pre-school and school age boys throughout the 1900s decade. We see boys of quite a wide age range wearing Fauntleroy collars, including boy begnning abiut 2 years of ge, . This varied depending on the fashion inclintions of mother. Little boys in the 1890s still wore dresses and other skirted garments. This practice was declining even in the 1890s, but still persisted somewhat in the 1900s. The age of breeching varied from family to family, but breeching was commonly about 3-4 years of age. This declined in the 1900s decade as the practice of yongr boysweaing skirted garments become less common. We think the Fauntlerpoy Craze was part of the reason for this. Mothers were so anxious to outfit their sons in Fauntleroy suits that they that they seem to have breech them a little before than was common earler in the century.

Age 3 Years

There were different types of Fauntleroy blouses at the time, both the classic blouses and the patterned blouses. The classic blouses were worn by the younger boys. We see fewer of the fancy classic blouses and the age of the boys wearing them was declining, especially after the early years of the decade while the Fauntleroy Craze still existed. Mostly we see boy about 3-5 years of age, although a few slightly older boys wore them depending on mothers fashion sences. We still see some Fauntleroy suits, but only at a very early age. We see a few boys who look to be about 2 years old but it is about age 3 years that we begin to see really large numbers.

Age 4 Years

The boy here looks to be about 4 years old (figure 1). He wears a classic Fauntleroy blouse and colorful floppy bow. The poertrait is undated, but the mount and white whicke furniture suggest the early-1900s.

Age 5 Years

The Michigan boy on the previous oage looks to be about 5 years old. We not only see a few of the enormously elaborte blouses designed to be worn by younger boys with Fauntleroy suits, but we see less fancy blouses for older boys that were worn without the classic cut-away Fauntleroy suit jacket. They were for the most part less extremne than the classic blouses for younger boys made to be worn with velvet cut-away jckets.

Age 6 Years

The classic blouses were not commonly worn to school, butbwe do see a few. Classic might be worn by 6 years old for dress up occassions, but it was becoming less common. Age 6 years is when most boys began school. Which explains why it was the age at which we begin to see the less fancy patterned Fauntleroy bloues appearing and the clasic blouses disappearing.

Age 10 Years

Boys 10 years old did not wear the fancy classic Fauntleroy blouses in the 1900s decade. We did not even see this very often when the classic blouses were most common (1880s-90s). But we do see many 10-year olds wearing the less fancy patterned Fauntleroy blouses. While less fancy, they still had the back flap and optional the frilled front placket. They also optionally worn with floppy bows, but much more modest bows than were worn in the 1890s. We mostly see these blouses being worn during the summer and worn wihout jackets. Apparently these blouses were seen as dressy enough thab jackets were not required. We continue seeing this even as the Fauntleroy Craze was winding down.

Age 13 Years

We seen the patrrned Faunleroy blouses worn to the early teens, at least 13 year olds. The less fancy patterned blouses were much more common andv worn by school age boys to about 13-14 years of age. We see these mostly during the summer when boys were dressing up for church or other occasion, but when suit jackets were not being worn.

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Created: 3:31 AM 5/13/2022
Last updated: 3:58 PM 9/13/2023