Figure 1.--This cabinet card is undated. We would guess the late-1870s or more likely the early-80s. The children are unidentified, presumably brother and sister. They look to be about 4-7 years old. Notice the girl's stylish hat. The boy wears a blouse and pleated plaid kilt. What we are unsure about is where this was part of a kilt suit and perhsps during the summer was worn without the jacket. Notice the girl's hat, dress and parosel is very summery. The studio was Bower in East Liverpool, Ohio.

The kilts associated with kilt suits were usually always worn as suits, at least in the available studio photography. This is probably misleading and reflects mothers' desires for children to dress up for portraits. We think that during the summer outside of the studio, not wearing the jacket was more common than suggestd by the photographic record. And we do note a few images of boys wearing just the kilt skirts without the jacket and just a blouse. We think that for the most part this is how kilts were purcghased ax part iof klkt suits. We do notice stand alone kilts being offered in mail order catalogs, but we see countless lilt suits being offered. Here we are talking about the standard blouses made from light shirt material, not the heavy-weight blouses made for blouse kilt suits like we see on the previous page. Just wearing a blouse with a kilt-skirt seems to have been a summer style. What we are unsure about is if American mothers purchsed or made kilt-skirts to be worn without jackets or if they just dressed the boys in only the kilt-skirt during warm summer weather. And the fact that kilt suits went out oif syle at about the sane time that the snapshot appeared. We have not yet found any written information on all of this. All we have to go on is the photographic record which as we jave noted can be misleading. So far we have only noted photographs of boys just wearing the skirt-kilts during the summer and we do not yet have many studio portraits. The studio portraits of course could have been taken during the fall or winter. We notice a numbr of examples. One is an unidentified Worcester family about 1880.

Kilt Suit Portraits

The kilts associated with kilt suits were usually always worn as suits, at least in the available studio photography. This is probably misleading and reflects mothers' desires for children to dress up for portraits. This is not to say that there are portraits of the boys not wearing jackets in studiom portraits, but they are relatively rare in comparisin the the boys weeraring full kilt suits.

Summer Wear

We think that during the summer outside of the studio, not wearing the jacket was more common than suggestd by the photographic record. And we do note a few images of boys wearing just the kilt skirts without the jacket and just a blouse. This is relatively easy to tell in amateur snapshots taken outdoors, but Kodak Brownie whuich ushered in the family snapshot in a major way just as kilt suits were passing from the fashion scene (1900).

Purchases

We think that for the most part kilts/skirts were purchased as part of kilt suits and not as stand alone kilts. We do notice stand alone kilts being offered in 19th century mail order catalogs, but we see countless kilt suits being offered. Kilt suit castalog offerings quickly disappeared after the turn of the century.

Blouses

Whhen the boys were wearing their jackets, we can not twll what kike of shirt-like farment they were wearing. Of course because it was all covered up, it did not make much sence to wear a fancy blouse. y sence. But without the jacket, blouses were worn. There were two kinds of blouses. One was a blouse done in a heavy material, much heavier than a standard bouse and almost always in colors. Mothers commonly chose to coordinatre with the kilt skirt. This was a blouse kilt suit. We notice a numbr of examples. One is an unidentified Worcester family about 1880. The second type of blouse was a stardd blouse done in lighter shirting material. These could be fancy Fauntleroy blouses or plainer blouses like the boy here is wearing (figure 1). We are not sure about blouses when the kilt-suit first appeared at mid-century.. Almost all portraits show the boys wearing jackets as part of suits. We begin to see boys wearing just the blouses (1880s). The fancy blouses were common because the kilt suit was so popular for boys during the Fauntleroy era. Younger boys wore dresses for centuries, by the late-19th century this was becoming less common, but after mid-cenhtury the kilt suit was adopted by many mothers much more than dresses for boys 2 years old and older up to school age. They were not commonly worn with kilt suit jackets, they were common when just the kilt skirt was worn during the summer.

Seasonality

Just wearing a blouse with a kilt-skirt seems to have been a summer style. What we are unsure about is if American mothers purchsed or made kilt-skirts to be worn without jackets or if they just dressed the boys in only the kilt-skirt during warm summer weather. And the fact that kilt suits went out of syle at about the sane time that the snapshot appeared. We have not yet found any written information on all of this. All we have to go on is the photographic record which as we jave noted can be misleading. So far we have only noted photographs of boys just wearing the skirt-kilts during the summer and we do not yet have many studio portraits. The studio portraits of course could have been taken during the fall or winter.

Gender

Kilt suits and these stand-alone kilts were only worn by boys. Today plais skirtsare a stabndard fior girls, esopecially associated with schoolwear. This was not vthe case in the 19th century. We only notice boys wearing these garments.

Created: 12:59 AM 3/19/2021
Last updated: 1:31 AM 10/10/2022