** boys clothing with hoop and stick







Boys Clothing Worn with Hoops and Sticks


Figure 1.--Jacques, the son of Emile Zola, dressed in a sailor suit on the way to a London park to play with his hoop. His mother also has a hoop. The photograph was taken about 1895. Note the French-style hat he is wearing.

Perhaps the most democratic of all outdoor toys was the hoop and stick as the hoops were so readilly available. Hoops were metal rings used in the construcyion of barrel. As a resuly it was popular throughout the 19th century. Hoops actually varied widely as did barrels. Some boys used small hoops. Other boys preferred muxhg larer ones. Some might be lmost as large as the boy. Boys rolling hoops were a coomon cite in city parks, although some may have prohibited such boisterous behavior. Hoops could also be rolled in city streets if a suitable park was not located nerarby. Available images of children playing with hoops provide some interesting information about boys' fashions at various times.

Background

Children in the 19th century did not have the wide collection of toys that modern children have. As a result they made do with with much simplier toys and games. One of those were the hoop and stick. Barrel making created a vast supply of hoops that children readfily converted into a fun toy. The barrel was such a standard way of storing and moving goods that there were hoops everywhere in Europe and North Anerica. Thus there were hoops everywhere and children masde good use of them as a play item. I don;t know if some hoops were masde specically for play, but suspect that most of the ones used were old barrel hoops.

Chronology

We are not sure when children began playing with hoops. Certainly it was by the 18th century, the hoop had become a popular game. It was probably even earlier, but HBC can not yet substanyiate that. Children began playing with hoops as soon as barrel making created a vast supply of hoops. I am not sure just when the barrel was first used. It was not used in Roman times, but I think was developed in medieval times. By the 18th century, the site of children playing with hoops was a common sight on European streets and parks. Occasional 19th century photographic images show children, mostly boys, with their hoops. The limitations of photograpic technology, however, did not permit outdoor photographs of the children. Images begin to appear, however, showing that the hoop was still popular at the turn of the 20th century. I am not precisely sure when they passed out of popularity. I can not recall American children playing much with hoops after World War I (1914-18), but they may have continued to be used in Europe during the 1920s and 30s.

Children's Clothing

The hoop was a very democratic toy. The fact that a common barrel hoop and stick was the only thing involved. Thus the poorest boy could play. But it was just as much fun for a wealthy boy. Thus images of children playing with hoops illustrate the clothing styles of all strata of society. During the era that hoops wee popular, studio photography was dominant. Thus many available photographs of children with hoops are posed images. Presumablt the studio often prvided the hoop. Thus many f the images show children in clothing that they may not have actually worn when playing with the hoop.

Headwear

Children in the 19th century would almost always have worn heeadwear when playing with their hoops outdoors. The type would have varied greatly over the many years that the hoop was popular. Boys in the 19th century might wear wide-brimmed sailor hats with sailor suits or Fauntleroy suits. Many styles of sailor caps were also popular. Studio portraits, however, often do not show the boys wearing their caps.


Figure 2.--An Edwardian era boy dressed in A Fauntleroy with lace collar and playing with his hoop in a park. A visit to the park at the turn of the century was deemed to an occasion for dressing up--even to play hoops. The idea of leisure clothes was several decades away.

Sailor suit

Sailor suits may have been the most common style worn by boys playing with hoops--in part because sailor suits were so commonly worn by boys over such a long period beginning in the 1840s. They were still very common in Germany in the 1920s although in most other countries generally wortn by younger boys. The sight of boys dressed in sailor suits rolling their hoops in Eiropean and American parkls was very common. The sailor suit was a boys everyday outfit, but was very versital and could be worn for more formal events as well.

Fauntleroy suit

Boys from aflluent families might have been taken to the park with their hoops fressed in Fauntleroy suits. Such suits, however, were a boy's best party suit. Thus many boys who had Fauntleroy suits might have worn other outfits such as sailor suits when playing with their hoops. We note an unidentified boy wearing a suit with Fayuntleroy features, we think about 1910.

Hair styles

Boys playing with hoops wore the same hair styles as normally worn with the out outfits commonly worn in different counties during specific eras. Boys from affluent families in America might wear ringlet curls with their Fauntleroy suits and French boys might wear uncurled long hair--sometimes with hair bows. Boys from less affluent familes were more likely to wear short hair.

The Park

Children of modest means were likely to play with their hoops in the street. While they could go to a park, there parents including the mother often had to work. As a result they did not have time to take the children to the park. Thus play on neigborhood streets were common, even if complicated by the traffic. Of course in the 18th and 19th century before automobiles, traffic was not quite as serious a problem. Available images of the children at play provide a good idea of everyday children's clothes.


Figure 3.--This Paris boy was photographed with his hoop wearing a kneepants sailor suit. HBC estimates the photograph was taken about 1895-97. Note the uncurled long hair and hairbow. While the sailor suit looks fairly standard, this boy wears a very wide belt with a destinctive buckle over his middyblouse.

Social Conotations

Children from wealthy families were more likely to play with their hoops in parks. Wealthy parents had more leisure time as well as the money to employ nannies and governesses to take the children. Thus an outing to the park was an often daily ritual wear nannies and governesses, their charges dully outfitted would sally out from the confines of the nursery. The clothes the children wore for these park outings were much more formal than what we would think of as play clothes today. Thus boys might be dressed in Fauntleroy suits or kilt outfits for outings to play with their hoops. It certainly was not what modern children would consider appropriate playwear, but the children of the era seemed to have made do quite nicely.

Age

I am not positive what age boy played with hoops. My guess is that children had to be at least about 4 or 5 years old before they could master the necessary skills. They probably continued playing with hoops until they were about 12-13 years of age.

Gender

HBC is not sure about gender commotanions for hoops. HBC believes that both boys and girls palyed with hoops although it seems to have been most common for boys to play with them.

Countries

The hoop appears to have been a very popular plaything throughout Europe and the United States. Of course boys probably didn't bring their hoops with them to the studio. The hiips in studio portraits are probvably studio props, but the fact the studios had them we tghink is a reflection of their popularity. There are nummerous portraits with boys holding hoops on HBC, but we have just begun to build the links here. HBC has not yet been able to develop information about differences between countries as to what boys wore when playing with hoops. Basically the clothes boys wore while playing with hoops was a good reflection of what contemporary boys in general were wearing. Because barrels were everywhere, just children throughout Europe and Norh samerica played with hoops. We note an Italian boy with a hoop. Abd we note a Russian boy in the early 20th century.







HBC






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Created: September 6, 1998
Last updated: 4:28 PM 1/24/2007