Figure 1.--Here we see a French boy wearing a barboteuse romper suit. The collar here is a different than many we have seen. Peter Pan collars were more commonly used. He had his portrait taken about 1950. He looks to be about 5 years old..

Rompers were most common for pre-school boys. While they were less common for older boys, we note that boys age 5-6 years often had a dressy romper suit for parties or special occassions. They were basically a pre-school garment which is why they were common for boys up to about age 5 years of age. A HBC reader indicates that his brother wore rompers to age 5 and he wore them to age 6 years. The painting we have used to introduce the French romper section looks to us to be a boy about 5 years old. We note another family snapshot with a boy about 5 years old wearing a patterened romper suit. Boys did not normally wear romper outfits to school. We do, hoever, seem them in nursery schools.