Figure 1.--Here we see a Canadian boy named Ellis, He wers a classic velvet Little Lord Fauntleroy suit showing off his fancy bnliuse to best affect. The new style cabinet card mount and whicker furniture suggest the portrait was taken in the 1900s decade, probably about 1905. Ellis looks to be about 7-8 years old. The studio is Farmer Bros. in Toronto, Ontrfio.

We suspect that the ages of Cnadaian boys wearing Fintleroy suits were similar to that of American boys. We believe tht the prevalence of Fauntleroy suits was different in that Canada as not as prosperous as the United States in the late 19th century. Canada was not nearly as industrialized as the United States. Industrialization began in lrge part becuse of the development of the American autmobile industry (early-20th century) abd that was after the era in which the Fauntleroy suit was of any real importance. Age is a differenbt matter. We see no real reason why there wuld be any difference in the ages of the boys wearing Fauntleroy suits. Perhaps there were fewer middle-class bits wearing them, but we have so few Cannadian examples that it is difficult at this time to make any valid assessments. As faras we can tell, the age range is about the samne as see in America, about 3-8 years of age. And as we see in America, a few older boys as well. The boy on the previous page looks to be about 5 years old. This is an age in which Fauntleroy suits were very common. After thus we see far fewer boys wearing them. Which seems primrily the result of school. Once boys began school, they began to have more ideas about how thry should be dressed and their hair styles. they begin tom want to dress like the other boys. And we see very few examples of boys wearing Faunleroy suits in school portraits. We do see individual portraits showing older boiys wearing Fauntleroy suits up to bout 8 years of age, but they are not nearly as common as younger boys. The Toranto boy here looks to be about 7-8 years old (figure 1). We do commonly see older boys wearing a range of Fauntleroy items, but not the classic Fauntleroy cut-away jacket suits.

Created: 1:34 PM 6/11/2022
Last updated: 1:34 PM 6/11/2022