Figure 1.-- This family portrait provides a good indication of the age convention associated with cut-away jackets. The younger boy wearing the cut-away jacket looks to be about 7-8 years of age. The older boy wearing the sack suit looks to be about 11 years old. Notice the younger boy's cap. I'm not sure what it was, but may be a Glengary. The portrait is undatd, but we would guess the 1870s. Another interesting aspect of this portrait is the body language. The children seem very close. The portrait was taken in Lübeck. Because of the clothing styles an cardboard mount, the portrit was probably taken in the early 1870s. Image courtesy of the BP collection.

I'm also not entirely sure about the age range for these suits. We do not yet have any German catalogs which would provide sizing information. The lack of catalogs makes it a little difficult to assess age trends. In addition these jackets were popular in a period before ready-made clothes meaning that there was considerable diversity. Thus there probably were differences from family to family. Based on the photographic record, we would estimate that they were very common for boys from about 3 years old (or wnen the boy was breeched) to about 8 years of age--but this is just an estimate at this time. We note a Poznan boy who looks to be about 4-years old. Family portraits like this one with boys of different ages are a good indicator of the age trends. While boys of from about 5-8 years were the most likely to wear cut-away jackets, it is likely that they were worn by boys up to about 10 years. The boy here looks to be about 8 years old (figure 1). His older brother who looks to be about 11 years old is wearing a collar-buttoning jacket. Both boys wear long pants.

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Created: 9:16 PM 4/23/2006
Last updated: 9:16 PM 4/23/2006