Figure 1.--These brothers were photographed in Paris, but the portrait is undated. We would guess the 1900s. The difference in neckwear probably reflected a small difference in age. |
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We have noted French boys commonly wearing bows in the 19th century, but have little so far developed little historical information on this which was a common fashion in America, Britain, and other countries at the time. Neckties appeared in the early 20th century, but were not nearly as widely worn in France as in Britain or even America. One of our French readers reports an aversion to neckties as a boy. One alternative to the necktie is a kind of narow ribbon tied into a bow. I am not sure what the English-language term for this is, but the French call it " un noeud papillon ", literaly " butterfly tie ". They are narrow bow-like lies worn instead of neckties
I tend to associate these with the american west in the late 19th century, but perhaps I have seen too many Hollywood Westerns. I am not sure to what extent if any that they were actually wirn in the West during the late 19th century.
I have not noted modern American boys wearing them, but French boys did during the 1950s-70s. We note them, for example, advertized in a
1971 La Redoute catalog. They were worn at scome private schools and choirs. We also note another Western looking neckwear style--the string tie. Since the 1940s this has been worn in the American West, but rarely in the East, by both men ans boys. We also note it was adopted at some French schools after World War II. We note a French school wearing string ties, proabably in the 1970s. I'm not sure why these butterfly and string ties caught on in France. Parents may have had sucg difficifulty getting biys to wear ties, that this was an acceptable compromose. Boys fir there part may have seen them in American cowboy films--making them more acceptable. This is, however, just speculation.
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