Figure 1.--Here we see three German brothers wearing suits with cut-away jackets. Note that you can barely see the shirts. There seem to be two different types of collars. The portrait is undated, but we would guess was taken in the 1860s. Note the pair of skates around the younger boy's neck. This portrait was taken in Bremen. Image courtesy of the BP collection.

We note in the late-19th century all types of often very large collars worn by boys. The situation in the mid-19th century was very different. Shirts and blouses were made with no collars or very small collars. These small collars were the style througout Europe. Because boys were commonly photographed wearing suits, often with vests, we normally see very little of the shirts they were wearing. Often all we can see is the collar and they were basicallhy very small. We note different collar styles, but do not know what they were called. Hopefully we will eventually learn more details about the various styles. We note both collars that fold down over the jacket as well as a different style which stands up. Both are quite small.

Specific Types

Shirts and blouses were made with no collars or very small collars. These small collars were the style througout Europe. Because boys were commonly photographed wearing suits, often with vests, we normally see very little of the shirts they were wearing. Often all we can see is the collar and they were basicallhy very small. We note different collar styles, but do not know what they were called. As far as we can tell, all of these collars were worn closed with a button at the neck.

Stand Up

The small stand up collars emerged just slightly from the suit. We do not note much in the way of styling or detailing. We can see so little of these collars that it is difficult to make out much detail.

Fold Over

We can see a bit more of the fold over type collar. Thay were domne in various styles. We have noted both rounded and pointed-tip styles.

Ruffled

We note some boys wearing shirts or blouses with small ruffled collars. These were not very common, but we do note a few. It seems most common in the mid-19th century with cut-away jackets. A good example is an unidentified boy. Another example is a Poznan boy.

Chronology

We do not yet hasve a full chronology. We think this was the style in the 1850, but canot yet conform it. We know it was the style in the 1860s and 70s. We note that larger styles begun to appear in the late 70s. By the 80s much lare collars were commonly worn. Some of the collars in the late-19th century were styled like the small collars here, only made larger.

Neckwear

We do not notice neckwear commonly being worn with these small collars. We think chrological factors may have beem involved here. Neckwear does not seem to have been very common in the 1860s, but we see some boys with simple neckwear in the 1870s. A good example is an unidentified Bremen boy in 1873.

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Created: 8:14 PM 4/23/2006
Last updated: 8:14 PM 4/23/2006