Figure 1.--This CDV portait shows n unidentified Yorkshire boy. It is undated. It would not have been taken earlier than the 1860s. Portraits in the 50s were mostly Dags, Ambros, and other formats. The boy is wearing a cut-away jacket suit with wide long pants. (Perhaps they are knee pants mother bought in alarge size.) Knee pants in the 1860s-70s were often worn at calf length.) The suit is heavily decorated with embroidery. This was a style popular in the 1860s and early-70s. We would guess that this portrait was taken in the late-60s or early-70s, in part because CDVs from the 1860s tended to have simple background. The studio was Kendrew n Batley, Yorkshire.

Suits with cut-away jackets were popular in the mid-19th century for younger boys. We see them being commonly worn in the 1860s and 70s by younger school-age boys. We have little information about the 1850s. They may have been worn in the late-50s. We see cut-away jackets in the 80s, but mostly as part of Fauntleroy suits. Our information is still limited, but we think that they were most common in the 1860s and the early 70s. The jackets were worn open except for some kind of connecting tab at the top near the collar. Most were made without collars. The jackets varied a great deal. Some were very plain without any ornamentation. We note other jackes that were heavily decorated with embroidery. Vests (waistcoats) were common, but not compulsury. We are not sure just how common they were. They were worn with all kinds of trousers, knee pants, bloomer knickers, and long pants. They suits were worn with a variety of accompanying clothing, including headwear, shirts/blouses, neckwear, and hosiery. Because of the chronological time involved, we mostly noice boys with small collars and neckwear. Out archieve is too limited at this time to develop these topics with much certainty.

Chronology

We have some limited information about the chronology of cut-away jackets in England. Suits with cut-away jackets were popular in the mid-19th century for younger boys. We see them being commonly worn in the 1860s and 70s by younger school-age boys. We have little information about the 1850s. The Daguerreotypes and ambrotypes taken in the 1850s were much less common in England. So we have much less information before the 1860s when CDVs were taken in large numbers. English boys masy have worn cut-away jackets Tn the late-50s. We can not yet confirm thsat. We see cut-away jackets in the 80s, but mostly as part of Fauntleroy suits that became popuilar in the decade. Our information is still limited, but we think that they were most common in the 1860s and the early-70s. They seem to have begun to decline in popularity in the mid-70s. This also needs to be confirmed.

Jacket Construction

Cut-away jackets were designed to be worn open except for some kind of connection at the top near the collar. This could be a common button, perhaps covered by the collar. There were other appraches to connecting the top, including tabs or links of various types. Most cut-away jackes were made without collars or lapels.

Decoration

Cut-away jackets varied a great deal. Not only the cut, but the decoration varied. Some were very plain without any ornamentation. Primarily we notice embroidery. We note other jackes that were decorated with embroidery. And often that same embroidered decoration was continued on the trouers. The designs employed could be quite simple or highly florid and many variations in between. We think that the embroidery here was hand sewn, but perhaps readers with more knowledgeable about emroidery than we do. We believe that a store kept patterns and the patron picked from the various patterns and also decided the extent of the embroidery or if she wanted in repeated on the vest (waistcoat) and pants. Ready made suits may have been more common by the 1870s. We are not sure as to the colors used for the embroidery. We note these fancy patterns on both light and dark suits, but it is the emtoidery on the light suits that is more visible. This id because dark thread was for some reason commonly used for the embroidery on dark suits. We also notice this embroidery in other countries,but fancy patternsseem more popular in England than America.

Suit Garments

Boys suits included two garments, the jacket and pantrs. Here we are taking about cut-away jackets. The other basic part of the suit was the trousers or pants. Here we see all kinds of pants, including short pants, knickers, straight-leg knee pants, and long pants. The styling of the various kinds of pants changed quite a bit over time. Pants basically followed the trouser fashion conventions of the day. The vest (waistcoat) was also commonly worn. (The term 'vest' has a different meaning in England.) The vest was optional, but very common in the 19th century. This depended somewhat ion the blouse. As Fauntlerioy bloses became more popular we begfin to see fewer vests. Vests seem most common in the 1860s-70s, although this we still need to confirm as we expand our English archive. .

Accompanying Clothing

Cut-away jacket suits were worn with a variety of accompanying clothing, including headwear, shirts/blouses, neckwear, and hosiery. There wre various ytpes of headwear. We do not note any matching caps. Because of the chronological time involved, we mostly noice boys with small collars and neckwear.

Ages

We note boyj pre-school and school-age children wearing cut-away jackets. The age range seems to hsave been about 3-19 years. The younger boys wearing these suits were at an age thsat many were not yet breeched. After about age 8 the cut-away jackets begin to be less common. We need to archive more impages to be avle to address the toic of age with more precessioin.

Colors

Color of course is a difficult topic for 19th century clothing, one of the few topics than can not be addressed because of the black-and-white photography. There are, however, some sources of information. We do not yet have much information on the color of English cut-away jacket suits. We suspect that they were the same as those popular in America. The trends of course were set in Britain, it is just that moreinformation is available on America because of the greater prevalence of photography in the United States. We suspect that the lighter colors may be light greys and browns, but we note a colorized CDV with a light blue suit. While not a color portrait, we believe that the colorizers generally tried to reproduce the colors of the main garments worn. The dark colors were also probably blue, brown, anf grey. Wealso think that there were black suit. We are less sure about other colors or how popular they were.

Created: 5:52 AM 9/28/2009
Last updated: 4:44 AM 10/29/2012