Figure 1.--This is a framed, hand colored studio portrait. The unidentified American boy looks to be about 6 years old. He wears a sailor cap and reffer jacket wuth a huge strioed, floppy bow. He has brown leather keggigs. We do not know what kind of suit he wears, probably a sailor suit, He holds a riding crop behind his head. The portrait is undated, but was probably takenb aroiund 1905 was mounted in a gilt gesso over wood frame with original glass and pine backer boards. On the wall the portrait and frame measures 26 x30 inches with the photograph 15 x 19 inches.
Boys wore leggings with different types of clothes over time, depending on the popular fashions of the day. Often they were worn with dressy outfits. Boys were more likeky to wear them with Fauntleroy suits, for example, than with sailor suits. We see quite a few portraits of boys in Fauntleroy suits during the 19th century wearing leggings. We are not sure why we don't see many examples of leggings earlier. After the 20th century boys wearing leggings might wear them with sailor suits and other suits. Other photographs show children wearing with cold weather outfits, both dressy and casual/play outfis. Here we ae talking about outfits with shortened-length pants. Until the 1920s, boys wore shortened-length pants with long stockings. We begin to see more socks in the 1920s. Some American mothers decided that during the wunter, boys with shortened length pants should wear leggings to keep them warm.
Fauntleroy Suits
The first leggings I have noted were ones by boys wearing Little Lord Fauntleroy suits. The images I have seen show boys wearing leather leggings. The leggings were a cld leather garmnt for winter wear. Fauntleroy suits were mostly worn with shortened-length pants. They seem most commin in winter climes where it snowed a lot. The boy in figure 1 was photographed in Worchester, Massachusetts. Certainly he would encounter quite a bit of snow. The one image I had seen led me to believe it was was just an odity. When more images appear than it is more likely to be a real style. It is interesting to note that boys until the 1860s had commonly wore long pants. Only in the 1870s did kneepants for boys become widespread. As a result it is possible that leggings became popular at this time. This may be an American style. Winters in America are much more severe then in England or France. Thus mothers may have decided that leather leggings not only kept a boys' legs warm, but also helped to protect an expensive Fauntleroy suit. Romping through snow and slush could do a lot of damage to an expensive velvet suit. During the Fauntleroy era they were commomnly dine in leather. We also notice leggings being used as part of a Fauntleroy costume in a stage play.
Sailor Suits
We also see boys wearing leggings with sailor suits. This seems less common than was the case for Fauntlerpoy suits. They were still done in lether in the very early-20th century.
Other Suits
We see boys wearing leggings with the short pants suits that became common in the 1920s. These leggings wrre commonly done jn fabric.
Cold-weather Play Wear
Some photographs show children wearing with cold weather outfits that seem more like play or casual wear. We note rugged rather than dressy coats and sometimes warm weather headwear like stocking caps. A good example is an unidentified American boy about 1905.
Other Garments
We don't have a lot of information about leggings at this time. I think cloth leggings were worn in the first half of the 20th Century. Leggings were popular at this time because boys commonly wore sort pants even n the winter. The leggings helped to keep their legs warm. They were worn by little boys. We haven't seen mages of boys over 6 or 7 years wearing leggings, even boys wearing short pants in cold weather.
