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The first type of fancy blouses designed to be worn wih classic cut-away Fauntleroy jackets weere the classic Fauntleroy blouse. They were mostly white blouses, not always white, but the vast majority were white. These blouses were varied, but often were done with lace and ruffles. This might include copious amounts of expensie fine lace as well as trim. They had very large collars. Some but not all had back flaps. The lace and ruffles were not only done for the collar, but down the front of these blouses. They were usually done in very fine fabrics such as silk and linnen. They were motly done in the small sizes for which the jackets were usually done. Most commonly this would be for boys about 3-6 years of age, but we note boys up to sbout 8b years of age wearing them. We see fancy blouses earlier, but the classic Fauntleroy blouses appeard about 1885 when Ms. Burnett published her book. We see them up to about 1905. Less fabcy versions ciontinued into the 1910s. Despite the popular image, most boys eeating these blouses has short hair. But we do note a numbr of boys wearing these blouses with ringlet curls.
The first type of fancy blouses designed to be worn wih classic cut-away Fauntleroy jackets weere the classic Fauntleroy blouse. We are not sure who designed the first such blouses. There are few details in Mrs. Burnett's book. This is all Burnett sasid, "What the Earl saw was a graceful, childish figure in a black velvet suit, with a lace collar, and with lovelocks waving about the handsome, manly little face, whose eyes met his with a look of innocent good-fellowship." Notice she describes a lace collar, not an elaborate lace and ruffled blouse. And the illustrations were not as fancy as the blouses that the boys actually wore.
We see fancy blouses appearing before the Fauntleroy blouse made their fashion appearance. The actual classic Fauntleroy blouses appeard about 1885 when Ms. Burnett published her book--Little Lord Fauntleroy The book was at first serialized and this received enormous attentuion. he phityiographic record shows that very large numbers of boys wore them. There was a social-class factor involved here, but it should not be thought that only boys from rich families wore them. The Fauntleoy blouse was worn by a broad spectrum of American boys, especially the middle-class. We see these blouses up to about 1905-- a 20 year period. This was the period in which the Fauntleroy Craze was most pronounced. We see the popularity declining by the turn of the 20th century and the notably by about 1905. Not only do we see fewer boys wearing them, but increasingly younger boys as well. Less fancy blouse versions continued into the 1910s. These blouses were very common during this period, probasbly more common than the full Fauntleroy suit.
We see Fauntleroy blouses neing woorn weith and without the small velvet cut-away jackets. In some cases the blouses nearly ebngulfed the jackets. The cut-away open front was needed to displayed not only the fancy collar, but also all the fancy planket front of the blouses. You need a jacket with an open front area for the fancy front to make any sence. It was wasted if it could not be seen. But we also see many noys weearing the blouses witgout the jacket. At the time, it was considered apropriate for men and boys to wear suit jackets in public and virtually mandatory for any kind of formal occassion. We see a range of groupings during the late-19th and early-20th century with boys wearing Fauntleroy blousesm meaning groups like family gatherings abd churcgh picnics. We do not, however, see many at school which we thinnk is primarily a reflection of the age conventions. The exception was for boys, especially younger boys. It was where the expression 'shirt-sleeve youngsters' began. So unlike adults, younger boys could appear in just their blouses, even for a formal occasion.. This was especially common during the warm summer months.
One of the most destinctive styles of neckwear worn by Ameican boys was the floppy bow. This was a style worn by adults at the turn of the 19th century. It was popular during the Regency in Britain where it was worn by Beau Brummel. I thimk it was less common in America. When the floppy bow reappeared beginning in the late 1870s, it seems to have been a style particular popular in America. Large numbers of images show boys wearing large floppy bows in the late-19th century. This may be because our American archive is so substantial, but our Europen archives are growing and it does seem that floppy bows, esoecially large floppy bows were especially popular in America. This makes sence because it was strongly associated with the Fauntleroy style. And the Fauntleroy craze was espeilly pronounced in America. They were also worn in Europe, but we seem to see many more examples in America, especially the large floppy bows. And floppy bow at this time were a distinctly juvenile style. They were worn with equally large collars of various descriptions. Wearing floppy bows with fancy blouses was an optional matters. Some mothers insiste on the bows while others did not. They were worn with more plainly styled bows like Eton collars, but this was less common.
Fauntleroy blouses were mostly white blouses, not always white, but the vast majority were white.
The blouses were varied, but often were done with lace and ruffles. This might include copious amounts of expensie fine lace as well as trim. They had very large collars. Some but not all had back flaps. The lace and ruffles were not only done for the collar, but down the front of these blouses.
They were usually done in very fine fabrics such as silk and linnen. This was not the case for the blouses the older boys wore. These were usually dione in cotton fabrics.
Classic Fasntleroy blouses were motly done in the small sizes for which the jackets were usually done. Most commonly this would be for boys about 3-6 years of age, but we note boys up to sbout 8 years of age wearing them.
Despite the popular image, most boys wearing these blouses has short hair. But we do note a number of boys wearing these blouses with ringlet curls. They were a minority, but the number of images we have found show that it was not rare.
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