Figure 1.--This cabinet card portrait shows three unidentified London children, two boys and a girl. They look to be about 5-11 years old. The girl wears a waistless light-colored A-frame dress. The boys wear wide white collars and simole bows. We are not sure if they are detachable collars or part of the blouses. They also wear identical cut-away jackes and knicker pants. The portrait is not dted, but looks like the 1890s to us, perhaps the late-1880s. The studio is J.W. Gorsuch of Upper Holloway N, meaning north Lobdon.

We notice English boys wearing wide collars in the late-19th and early-20th century. Most, but not all were white collars. They were primarily for younger boys, but we see boys up to about 12 years of age wearing them. These collars were commonly larger than the standard Eton collars, but not as stiff. We note both pointed and rounded collars. The sizes varied, but some were quite large. We mostly see them being wirn with suits. Cut-away jacket suit styles were a popular style worn with these collars. Cut away jackets appeared at mid-century, but we do not seem them being worn with these wide white collars until the 1880s. Cut-away jackets were part of the classic Faunbtleroy suit. These wide white collars seem to have been worn much as American boys wore fancier Fauntleroy collars. The time range is similar to the Fauntleroy era, 1880s-1910s. We do not see girls wearing these collars, at least to any great extent.

Created: 4:14 AM 8/19/2018
Last updated: 4:14 AM 8/19/2018