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We no longer see younger boys commonly wearing dressess, although it was no unknown--especially for very young boys. Many boys did wear tunic suits. Fancy suits like Fauntleroy suits declined in popularity. We do still see sailor suits beibng commonly worn. The Boy Scouts seem to have had a major impact on boys; clothing as knee pants and long stockings seem to have given way to short pants and kneesocks, although this varied from country to country/. American trends departmted from Europe. American boys did not take to short pants and knickers were nuch more common and they were mostly worn with long stockings. Eton collars were still worn when drssing up, but not quite so commonly as in the 1900s. Boys no longer wore bows like they did in the 1900s and ties became more common. Norfolk styling contibued to be popular. World War I erupted in Europe (1914-18). This had a huge impact on national economies affecting the clothing industry and fashion. One of those impacts was that clothing styles were simplified as both an economy measure and an impact of the social climate. This was a trend which continued into the 1920s. We see boys wearing ethic costumes.
These two American children were photographed about 1910. These are Clara Metcalf and Robert Hathaway. I am not sure what their relationship is. The back of the photograph indicates that they Clara was 7 years old. Notice that it is the boy sitting on the horse. Both children are dressed in white. Clara wears a lacey dress with a hair bow and white stockings. Robert looks younger, about 4 years old. He wears a drssy white tunuc with lace trim. With his tunic he wears bloomer knickers and white stickings. Notice that the girl wears a dress and the boy wears a tunic. The children's hair is done differently, but both have white hairbows.
Erhard and Nora Keil had their portrait taken in 1910. We are not positive where their portrait was taken, but the photographer Carl Platz had studios in Moritzburg and Radeburg. I'm not sure where this is in Germany, but the folk costumes they wore suggest southern Germany--perhaps Bavaria. Hopefully our German readers will provid some inights here.
We know very little about Leo Herbert, except the one photograph we have of him. It is undated, but we estimate that it was taken about 1910. We know it was taken in Trinton, Mossuri. The photograph suggests that his mother had him study the piano. The most interesting aspect of the portrait is the justaposition of the rightlet curls and hair bow with the informal overalls. The images rather leads one to speculate about how Leo was dressed when not wearing his overalls. We assume that the overalls were used as play clothes around the home.
Douglas Spedden was an American boy who went everywhere with his parents. They were very wealthy and liked going on European tours. They travelled by ship to Europe and then travelled to lots of places by train. Douglas was then a boy of 7 years. On one occasion they travelled to Paris on a night train. Douglas found this exciting and enjoyed travelling in a sleeping compartment where he had a bed and slept throughout the journey. When the holiday was over they caught the Paris to Cherbourg Boat train and boarded a ship and had an adventurous voyage back to America. The image here was taken in 1911.
A HBC reader has provide us some charming photographs of herfather Lester VanTine and his fraternal twin Chester. The boys grew up in Pennslvania and are shown in a 1911 photograph wearing tunics with long stockings. They both have long, but not shoulder length hair.
Vere Talbot Bayly and his friend Roy (last name unknown) were photographed together, proably outside Roy's home in Bath. The photograph was undated, but probably taken about 1910. As with so many of the photographs taken at this time, there is a sad aspect to this image. According to The Commonwealth War Graves Commision, a 2nd Lieutenant Vere Talbot Bayly was killed on the May 8, 1916. He was only 19 years old. He was serving with the 7th Battalion of the Dorsetshire Regiment. Lieutenant Bayly was the only son of Isabel H. J. Bayly, of "Oaklands," Lansdown, Bath, and the late Langton G. Bayly. At first I assumed that these boys were brothers but from the above I now think that Vere was a friend of Roy. I would guess him to be about 12 or 13 when the photo was taken, dating it to around 1910-11. An interesting aspect is that these boys were photographed at about the same time William D. Boyce encountered the famed unknown Scout in London, an encountered which launched the American Scout movement.
L. Wistar Morris, Jr. apparently grew up in Germantown, Pennsylvania. At least he was photographed there in a studio during 1921. He has a short cut and wears a classic sailor suit with above the knee knickers and light-colored long stockings. He was 7 years old when the photograph was taken.
The unidentified English boy had his portrait taken in 1914. I don't know whether this boy is a virtuoso prodigy or just a boy dressed up for a recital. Anyway, he is dressed for performance in a sailor suitwith knee pants that look almost like knee breeches. He wears the traditional long black stockings with the knee pants. I would guess that he is about 10 years old--maybe 11. The sailor suit is interesting with the double row of buttons down the front (probably brass) and matching buttons at the knee. There is a little decoration on his dickey near the neck. I'm not sure how common it was in England to have an emblem of some sort on the dickey of a sailor suit. We think it was less common in England for olders boys, in part because boys from affluent families who went on to their prep schools at about 8 years of age, often stopped wearing sailor suits. We are guessing this was a special suit purchased just for the boy's recital.
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