Figure 1.--Here we see an unidentified group of boys and girls, we think in the 1900s. The cabinet card mount suggests the early-00s. There is no information on the back. We might guess they are a First Communion group. They look to be about 7 years old. The girls all wear white dresses and twin white hair bows. The boys wear what look like identical sailor tunic suits. All the children wear white long stockings and all but one soue strap shoes. The child at the right with longish hair seems to be a boy as he wears a salor tunic and does not have white hair bows. The fact that the children are dresses so similary, especilly the boys, meant that the parents would have to purchase the outfit especially for the event. nd especially the shoes would have been expensive. As they are presumavly Catholic it suggests that they are probably second-generation immigrants, prt of sailes that are suceeding in entering the American mainstream. Click on the image for a fuller discussion.

We still see a lot of formality in dress during the early-20th century. There was the beginning of the movement toward informality that wouldcominte the 20th century. At this was most available with boys' wear, more so than girls' wear and adult fshions. Both the Fauntleroy suit and the kilt suit hadbasically gone out of style by the end of the 19th century, but we see a few younger boys wearing them after the turn-of-the 20th century. Fauntleroy styling, however, had not run it course, but we see mostly blouses rather than the classic suits. Boys up to their early-teens might wear the blouss, often done in colors or prints. The tunic suit became enormously popular in the early-20th century, both for play and dressing up. White in parucular was popular for dress up summer clothing. The tunic suit was a basically plain garment in sharp contrast to the Fauntleroy suit and kilt suit boys commonly worn when dressing up. Younger oys mifgt wear hite long stockings for formality. Older girls might also wear white longg stckings, but not older boys. Younger boys ad girls might wear strap shoes. Boys might One element of informality, although some of the tunics had fancy detailing. Older boys wore suits, although until the teen years, ablouse or shirtwaist would do during the summer another accepted informl step. Boys mostly wore suits when dessing up, including parties and school. Knee pants suits were worn during the 1900s and knicker suits during the 1910s, always with long stockings. Black long stockings were especially common.

Created: 2:13 PM 1/25/2018
Last updated: 2:13 PM 1/25/2018