Figure 1.-- This photograph is undated, but looks to have been taken in the late-1890s, pwehaps the very early 1900s. We think this may be a church sunday school class. Notice that the some of boys wear outfits with ruffled Fauntleroy collars and blouses. One boy has a blouse with a large stripped ruffled collar. All the girls wear dresses. Only one girl has a lace collar. The girls have both long abnd short hair, but we don't see any hair bows. One boy has a squirel which may be stuffed. A reader writes, "What I noticed is there are a lot of plants. I wonder if this was Arbor Day? Or maybe Easter, though I would think the girl's clothes would be fanicier." I think the plants argue for a school class as does the squirle, but there is a wider age range than one might expect from a a school class."

Younger boys still wore dresses in the 1890s. There seems to be more of a trend to differentiate boys and girls clothing. We note boy dresses bing advertized. The convention of boys wearing drsses which has existed for centuries seemed to decline in popular in the later part of the decade. We are not entirely sure why. We think the popularity of the kilt suit and Fauntleroy suit were factors here. Smocks were not common in America except in rather affluent families. The styles of the 1880s, such as kilt suits, Fauntleroy suits, and sailors suits continued to be popular. The sailor suit was especiallly popular and was now also worn by girls, but with skirts rather than kneepants. Fancy styles such as Fauntleroy suits reached their peak of popularity in the 1890s as were sailor suits. Boys commonly wore blouses, often with large collars, knee pants and long stockings, mostly black long stockings. A good example is Harold Wilson in 1897. Knee pants were now widely worn by boys of all ages. We see even older teenagers wearing knee pants by the end of the decade. This was especially common in cities, but not so common with boys in rural areas or boys honhad left school to work. Boys usually wore knee pants, mostly with long stockings. We like to see not only how boys dressed in each decade, but we also want to see how girls dressed at the same time. It is interesting to see what boys' garments went with girls garments. This can be seen in the various school images we have archived. But we have other images including boys and girls. This includes portrait if siblings as well as other group photographs. We begin to see more outdoor scenes in the 1890s, although studio photography still dominated. We still see boys and girls mostly dressed up. The girls almost always wore dresses all the time. Some of the few exceptions are school gym and swimming here the girls tended to wear voluminous bloomer outfits. The dresses seem rather voluminous. We see many more dresses than blouses and skirts. Decorations varied. Large collars and bows were not as common as for the boys, but we do see a few girls with lace collars. Some dresses hed virtually no collars other had decorated collars. The sleeves were commonly voluminous, this was a characteristic style of the 1890s. We see girls with both short and long hair.

Boys Garments

Younger boys still wore dresses in the 1890s. There seems to be more of a trend to differentiate boys and girls clothing. We note boy dresses bing advertized. The convention of boys wearing drsses which has existed for centuries seemed to decline in popular in the later part of the decade. We are not entirely sure why. We think the popularity of the kilt suit and Fauntleroy suit were factors here. Smocks were not common in America except in rather affluent families. The styles of the 1880s, such as kilt suits, Fauntleroy suits, and sailors suits continued to be popular. The sailor suit was especiallly popular and was now also worn by girls, but with skirts rather than kneepants. Fancy styles such as Fauntleroy suits reached their peak of popularity in the 1890s as were sailor suits. Boys commonly wore blouses, often with large collars, knee pants and long stockings, mostly black long stockings. A good example is Harold Wilson in 1897. Knee pants were now widely worn by boys of all ages. We see even older teenagers wearing knee pants by the end of the decade. This was especially common in cities, but not so common with boys in rural areas or boys honhad left school to work. Boys usually wore knee pants, mostly with long stockings. When not dressed up for a special occassion, boys commonly went barefoot. Fauntlkeroy styling was very popular in the 1890s. Some boys might wear long hair, in some cases in ringlet curls. This was mpstly younger boys from affluent families, but we see a few older boys as well. By the end of the decade many boys were weraing tunic suits. The new style of tunic or blouse suits, made in various styles (sailor, Russian, and Buster Brown) were eno

Girls Garments

The girls almost always wore dresses all the time. Some of the few exceptions are school gym and swimming here the girls tended to wear voluminous bloomer outfits. The dresses seem rather voluminous. We see many more dresses than blouses and skirts. Decorations varied. Large collars and bows were not as common as for the boys, but we do see a few girls with lace collars. Some dresses hed virtually no collars other had decorated collars. The sleeves were commonly voluminous, this was a characteristic style of the 1890s. We see girls with both short and long hair, but no hair bows.

Created: 3:12 AM 3/3/2013
Last updated: 9:51 AM 3/4/2013