Figure 1.-- This cabinet card is undated, but the mount style suggests the late-1890s. The boy is unidentified., but looks bout 8-9 years old. He wears a smmart looking outfit. We assume he is wearing a suit with the pea coat covering the jacket. The velvet collar gives it an elegant look. The peaked cap has a small brim and seems to match the suit, but perhaps not the pea coat. He has knee pants, black long stockings, and high-top shoes, standard boys' wear for the time. Notice the sail boat in the backdrop. The Studio was Marion in Lowell, Massacusettes.

We definitely see paked caps in the 1890s with dated portraits. We see a number of portraits in the 890s of boys wearing these caps. They were always solid colord caps. They were, however, just one of a wide range of different styles, including hats that today are more associated with adult men. And were in no way a dominant style. The peaks were often quite small. We note boys wearing these caps as a dress cap. They were even worn with Fauntleroy suits--one of several different headwear styles. They were popular in the 1890s and 1900s, but only one of a varity of caps. We have found a number of examples. We also see boys wearing these peaked caps with the sack suits wirn by school age boys, even younger teenafers. They were not a destictively school style as in Britain. Some images show boys rather elegantly dressed with suits wearing these caps. Some seem to match the suit. This is a little difficult to tell with black and white photography. This was not always the case. Some boys wore them to school. We see other boys wearing them on more cassual occassions, although family snapshots were still limited in the 1890s.

Created: 7:57 AM 12/21/2014
Last updated: 7:57 AM 12/21/2014