Figure 1.--This boy in this CDV was named Charlie, but we do not have his last name. He looks to be about 4-years old. Charlie wears what looks like a skirt suit. The top is a little confusing. it looks to be a jacket and vest, but it may be more of a one pice top. We can't tell from just the photograph. The skiet seems to have box pleats. Other than leating thee is no effort to mak the skirt look like a kilt. The portrait is undated, but looks like the 1860s to us. The studio Mr. Tefler on Reagent Street in London--a prestige location.

Kilt suits were an important style for boys in the 19th century, primarily in the second half of the century. They were not as common for boys as in America, at least based on prevalence in the photographic record. We get the impression that these skirt/kilt bsuits were more oriented for the well-to-do than was the case in America. We also notice suits that were basically identical to kilt suits only there was no effort to make the skirt look somewhat like a kilt, with with tartan fabric or an element of kilt construction. These we call skirt suits for the purposes of HBC rchiving. Like kilt suits, skirt suits were also often done with vests. These skirt suits were basically the same as kilt suits. Many of the kilts used in kilt suits were not true kilts, but just skirts done in tartan fabric or some semblance of kilt construction. We are not sure what mothers may have called these outfits. They may called them kilt suits, we are just not sure. We have never found references to skirt suits. We notice diferent terms being used in English catalogs.

Created: 8:25 AM 3/29/2019
Last updated: 3:30 PM 3/29/2019