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Suits were very common in the 19th and early-20th century. Boys unless from well-to-do families did not have large wardrobes. Wearing suits was very common. We see them at school and for regular wear as well. Often boys had a new suit for best and an older suit for everyday wear. Suits becane less common in the 20th century, but only at mid-century. Sack suits were becoming standard for boys at the mid-19th century. This is what we see as photography begins to provide us porttaits in numbers. School age Scottish boys generally wore various styles of sack suits. Here there was some cross over with juvenile suits. Younger school age boys, for example, might wear sailor suits. For the most part, however, school age boys wore different kinds of sack suits. The basic suit Scottish garments are jackets and pants, also called coats and jackets. This is of course the same in other countries. We notice several different types of both which have varied over time. These styles in Scotland are essentially the same as we see in England. We have found very little difference in the photographic record. In adition to jackets and pants there are other garments that can also be parts of suits. We sometimes see boys wearing matching caps, but this was not very common. Much more common was headwear that did not match the suit and were purchsed separately. Hats never matched, but caps sometimes did.
The first dedicated boy's garment was the skeleton suit. Earlier boys just wore scaled down garments like the one their father wore. Skeleton suits were worn in the early-19th century They consisted of high-waisted, button-on jackets and long pants. Unfotunately we do not have any Scottish images of these suits, but they were common throughout Western Europe. Gradually as we approach mid-century we begin to see more modern looking sack/lapel suits suits. Scottish boys seemed to have followed Scottish trends. Skeleton suits had the jacket (top) generally made in the same materail and color. We also begin to see vests. The suits we begin to see at mid-cehtury commonly had diferent colors amd material for the jacket, optional vest, and pants. Cuts varied with jackets longeer than modern jackets. Skeleton suits had long pants. The new evolving sack/lapel suits were at first done with long pants, but by mid-century we begin to see shortened-length pants, both kickers and knee pants. We also begin to see more commonly suits done in the same material (1860s). Here with the popularity of the CDV we can begin to follow fashion trends in detail. From that point on suits were made in the same material, including the vests. We also begin to see colorful vests worn with grey pants or cricket whites. This was initially a school style. We first see what look like single breasted jackets. After mid century we see double-breasted jackets. Norfolk styling becomes popular. Vests became very popular in the late-19th century. The suit as the standard boy's garment thouhout the 19th century througout the 19th century. Older boys began wearing shortened-length suit pants (1880s). This continued into the 20th century. We begin to see a more informal trend in the 20th century century, especially after World War I in the the 1920s, but Scottish boys still wore suit jackets as standard wear. Most boys wore short pants suits. Single-breasted jackets became the standard. American boys often wore blazers instead of suits, but in Britain the blazer was more of a school style. Scottish boys comtinued to wear short pants suits through the 1950s, but long pants began to become more common (1960s). At the same times suits were steadily becoming less prevalent, replaced by increasingly informal fashions.
Suits were very common in the 19th and early-20th century. Boys unless from well-to-do families did not have large wardrobes. Wearing suits was very common. We see them at school and for regular wear as well. Often boys had a new suit for best and an older suit for everyday wear. Suits were somewhat less common during the summer. This is difficult to follow in the 19th cenntury necause we obly see any number of imafes at mis-century and what we do see is stidio photography. This only changes at theturn-of-the 20th century when we begin to see family snapshots outsude the studio. We still see boys comminly waring suits at the mid-20th century, but less commonly after that. Suits were worn sonewhat more commonly in Scotland and elsewhere in Britain than in Europe in part because they were required at private schools and state secondary schools. But we see more and more boys wearing other garments than suits like jackets and sweters as well as sweaters, sweatshirts and other casual garments like 'T'-shirts during the summer.
Sack suits were becoming standard for boys at the mid-19th century. This is what we see as photography begins to provide us porttaits in numbers. School age Scottish boys generally wore various styles of sack suits. Here there was some cross over with juvenile suits. Younger school age boys, for example, might wear sailor suits. For the most part, however, school age boys wore differnt kinds of sack suits. Younger boys commonly wore cut-away jackets in the mid-19th century. Collar-buttoning jackets were a very common style for pre-teen boysinto the early-20th century. Older boys wore double-breasted jackets. Changes were primarily around the lapels whichcould be very large or quite small and high set. Norfolk suits were very popular in the late-20th century. We do not see as many Eton suits in Scotland as in England, presumably because the Scottish acadamies unlike the many English public schools did not adopt the style for their uniforms. We do see Scottish boys wearing Eton collars with regular jackets, especially Norfolk jackets. We also see single breasted jackets which became the dominant style in the 20th century.
The basic suit Scottish garments are jackets and pants, also called coats and jackets. This is of course the same in other countries. We notice several different types of both which have varied over time. These styles in Scotland are essentilly the same as we see in England. We have found very little difference in the photographic record. In adition to jackets and pants there are other garments that can also be parts of suits. We sometimes see boys wearing matching caps, but this was not very common. Much more common was headwear that did not match the suit and were purchsed separately. Hats never matched, but caps sometimes did. A mire common garment was the bests. Vested suits were very common in the 19th century. They were done both to contrast with and to match the suit. The vest declined in popularity in the 20th century, but in the 1970s as suits declined in popuarity we sometimes see boys wearing vests intead of suit jackets.
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