Figure 1.--This unidentified American boy wears a dress or blouse and skirt effort done in colord bands. Notice how the peaked cap was done in matching material. We are not sure about the colors. He looks to be about 3-4 years old. Despite his fashionable outfit, probably sewn by mother, the studio seems very basic. The portrait is undated, but as it was a brown/chocolate tin type, it would have been pobably taken in the 1870s or early-80s.

We see boys wearing peaked caps with a wide range of outfits. Sometimes the same fabric was used for both the cap and outfit. Peaked caps were worn for both dress and casual wear, but the conventions here varied overtime. We note younger boys wearing with dressy outfits after the mid-19th century. We note boys wearing these caps with dresses, kilt suits, and Fauntleroy suits. There seems to have been no set conventions, but the style was just seen as fashinable, perhaps becuse it came from Britain. The cut of some of these 19th century peaked caps were a little differnt than the 20th century caps. Some private schools in the late-19th century adopted them as part of the school uniform. This seems to be where thy became more standardized. American boys did not commonly wear school uniforms. This was more common in Britain. By the late-1910s, peaked caps were generally replaced as casual wear by the flat cap. The flat cap was not adopted as a school uniform item. The peaked cap did not have a strong school assiciation in America as was the case in Britain. The flat cap became the standard cap for American boys in the 1910s. The peaked cap, however, did not disaapear. It became more associated as a younger boys dress cap. They were often bought to match suits. The American Eton suit is especially associated with these caps, but they were not only worn with suits. The Cubs Scouts chose a peaked cap as the official headwear for the new Cub program (1930s). It was styled like the British Cub cap, but done in blue and gold.

Created: 9:19 AM 3/5/2013
Last updated: 9:19 AM 3/5/2013