Figure 1.--A French reader has provided up this image of a barboteuse or roper suit he wore at age 3 in 1946. Unlike therompers he wore as an older boy, he does not remember weaing this suit. This garment was size 45 cm for a boy about 3 years old. Click on the image for a back view.

A French reader tells that the one-piece suits were the most common. The original rompers were the one-piece suit type which first appeared in France during 1922. They were the first outfit to be called a "barboteuse". This style were the rompers that the youngest boys wore. I'm not sure to what size they were made, but probly to 3-4 years. They were initially a play outfit, but dressier versions with front smocking were also made. They had waist draw bands attached at the side and were tied in a bow at the back. These suits were almost always back buttoning.

Conventions

The one piece-romper suits were intially a play costume, but they were also made in dressy styles that were suitable for more formal occasions. They were more likely to be worn by the younger boys wearing erompers than the one-piece romper outfits. I'm not sure to what size they were made. The younger versions might be made for a 1-year old. They moght be made in sizes up to 3-4 years. Larger romper outfits for older boys were made on lother styles.

Features

We have noted several features of these one-piece romper outfits. Normally they came with Peter Pan collars. The dressier styles often had puff sleeves. The sleeves were always short. They were normally back buttoning, leaving the front available for decorative work like smocking. Particularly nice suits had the smocking repeated at the back. They were often drawn in at the waist and the bands tied in the back in a bow. This appears to have been largely decorative, so that the rompers had a norable waist. They buttoned at the crotch to facilitate diapper changes. re might be side buttons to improve the fit. Even the larger styles had buttons at the crotch. The suits were made with bottoms bloucing out to varying degrees of blocing out. Some were quite while others were more trim fitting. The large puff stule that blouced out was particularly fashionable in the late 1940s and early 50s.