Figure 1.--These children are done up for a beach outing, we believe in 1867. It looks to be an actual beach photograph rather than a studio portrait. The boys wear cut-away jackets with different kinds of pants. Two boys seem to be wearing boaters with both flat and partially rounded crowns. The third boy wears a straw rounded-crown hat. Note the different hat styles worn by the girls. Source: Victoria and Albert Museum.

We know much more about English fashions beginning in the 1860s because this is when the CDV became widekly available. The result was the appearance of huge numbers of photographic images for the first time. Thus we know a good bit about headwear. Hats seem much more common for English boys than caps in the 1860s. We see a range of different styles. After mid-century we begin seeing the broad-brimmed sailor cap come into style. Subsequent styles of sailor caps were also popular and followed changes in Royal Navy uniforms. The peaked school cap appeared as far as we can tell in the 1850s. We note examples in the 1860s. It was commonly worn for the following ten decades and is still worn at a few private schools. It first appeared at private schools. We are not sure that it became commonly worn by the wider population. We also notice boaters. We know that they appeared earlier, but we are unsure just when boys began wearing them. We note them in the 1860s with the increasing number of photographic images available. We see boaters with flat tops as well as rounded-crowns. We also see boys wearing rounded-crown hats in the 60s.

Created: 1:32 AM 6/25/2011
Last updated: 1:32 AM 6/25/2011