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World War I (1914-18) is a major dividing point in boys's fashions. The Fauntleroy suit which was still worn in the early 1910s, was much less common after the war and the early 1920s. I'm not sure precisely why this was. During the war, the rationing, the redirectiion of the economy to the war effort, and the need to focus on basic necesities probably made the extravegence and formality of the Fauntleroy style seem almost unpatriotic given the plain utilitarian approach to fashion. Another dynamic may have been operative after the War. The horrors of the war changed the outlook of many. Probably the fancy Fauntleroy styled seemed old fashioned and frivelous. And of course boys unless very young did not like it. Fauntleroy suits did not totaly disappear in the 1920s. Some boys still wore Fauntleroy suits or outfits with Fauntleroy touches, especially in the early-1920s. They were generally less elaborate suits. The ruffled collars worn in the 1910s began to disappear and were repaced with Peter Pan or other less frilly collars. Knee pants disappeared and were mostly replaced with short pants of various length. The Fauntleroy suit began to evolve in the 1920s into more modern suit styles, such as lapelless Eton suits for little boys. This process was largely completed in the 1930s although we continue to see some Fauntleroy stylistic touches.
World War I (1914-18) is a major dividing point in boys's fashions. The Fauntleroy suit which was still worn in the early 1910s, was much less common after the war and the early 1920s. I'm not sure precisely why this was. During the war, the rationing, the redirectiion of the economy to the war effort, and the need to focus on basic necesities probably made the extravegence and formality of the Fauntleroy style seem almost unpatriotic given the plain utilitarian approach to fashion. Another dynamic may have been operative after the War. The horrors of the war changed the outlook of many. Probably the fancy Fauntleroy styled seemed old fashioned and frivelous. And of course boys unless very young did not like it. We still see lomg stockings beimf worn with faumtleroy suits in the 1910s, bit by the 1920s. short pants and socks begin to become more common.
Fauntleroy suits did not totaly disappear after World War I in the 1910s. We still see some examples in the 1920s. Most of the examples we have found come from America, France, and Germany. We are not sure if they were actually more common in these countries or this simply reflects the large numbers of photographic images axailable from those countries. We also see some examples from German influenced Central Europe. This is interesting because during the actual lassic Fauntleroy era we did not see many German boys wearing Funtleroy suits. We vsuspectb the same wastrue in France, but our French archive is realtively limited. Some boys still wore Fauntleroy suits or outfits with Fauntleroy touches, especially in the early-1920s. The Fauntleroy suits we see are more basic versions than we see eatlier. They were generally less elaborate suits. The ruffled collars worn in the 1910s began to disappear and were repaced with Peter Pan or other less frilly collars. Knee pants disappeared and were mostly replaced with short pants of various length, often worn with strap shoes. he Fauntleroy suit began to evolve in the 1920s into more modern suit styles, such as lapelless Eton suits for little boys. We still see some long stockings in the 1920s, mistly white long stockings with Fauntleroys sits, but socks were becoming much more common by the end of the decade.
The 1930s is the last decade that we see any number of boys wearing Fauntleroy suits. We still see some, but not very many. There is a problen dating undated images. There are similarities beteen the 1930s and 30s. Given the presence of other onservable elemets. We tend ton think that shorter=cut short oants were more likely in thev 1930s. We stull see many boys wearing longer-cutbshorts in thev 1920s. The Fauntleroy style was largely completed in the 1930s although we continue to see some Fauntleroy stylistic touches. We seen some Fauntleroy outfits after the 30s, but mostly special formal events like weddings and not fir standard dress-up wear. .
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