Figure 1.--These Hackensack, New Jersey brothers had their portrait taken in 1891. Notice that it is the younger boy wearing the large floppy bow.

There were two primarily factors affecting the size of these bows--chronology and age. Social class may have been another factor. The size as besr we can tell varied primarily chronologically. Age was another important factor. Bows in the 1870s were relatively small. We still see some small bows in the early 80s. A good example is Eddie Wilson, a New York boy in 1882. We note larger bows in the 1880s, especially by the mid-1880s. They could be enormous in the 1890s. The floppy bow was an important part of the Little Lord Fauntleroy costume and many were emnense. Not all boys wore floppy bows with Fauntleroy suits, but many did. nd he bows worn with Fauntleroy suits tended to be very large. The floppy bow was worn with many other outfits as well. The floppy bow declined somewhat in size during the 1900s when they rapidly went out of style. Size conventions varied from family to family. Here it was all up to mother. She could buy as long a length of material as she wanted to make the bows. We don't know much about this, but assume a millenary or department store had all kinds of colors and patterens of bow material in different widths. It must have been a very colorgul section of the store. I'm nor sure what the widths were. Age was another factor. Younger boys seem to have the largest bows, but of course small-sized children make the bows look larger. It wasn't just the little bows that wore the large bows, but because of their small size it was most noiceable with them.

Created: 5:22 AM 9/6/2008
Last updated: 5:22 AM 9/6/2008