United States Boys' Clothes: Kilts and Kilt-like Garments--Usage


Figure 1.--This amateur cabinet photo of four adorable children was probably taken in the 1890s, although the photograph is undated. The very early-1900s is also possible. We know at least two of the children are boys, identified as Ben Partridge and Richard Harlow. They are perhaps the boy in the knee pants sailor suit and the blouse amd kilt-skirt. We are less sure about the children wearing dresses, but they look rather boyish and may be boys as well. Two of the boys are playing with wooden guns. While we are not sure that this was informal dress it is not a studio portait and instead shows the children around the home. The image was developed and orinted by Morrell of Boston.

Almost all of our umages with boys wearing skirted garments are studio portraits. As a result, we do not have very much information about actual usage. We do not know what bioys wore for everyday or around the house. The studio portraits are presumably a good indication as to what boys wore wore when they were dressed up for formal occassion. And this mean a good deal more time than is the case today. Formnality was much more prevalent in the 19th and early-20th centuries than is common today. Until after World War I we so not begin to see the begonning of informality in dress. This covers the entire period in which kilt and kilt-like garments were commonly worn by boys. There was a concession for younger boys in that they were allowed to wear blouses without jackets in warm weather, a touch of informality. While virtually this entire period occurred after the development of photography, there was a short window when family snapshots appeared abnd before kilts and kilt suits finally disappeared for boys--1900-05. The Kodak Brownie appeared in 1900 and was soon followed by similar systems. Thus instead of a few scattered snapshots in the 1890s, we suddenly have a deluge of family snapshots beginning in the 1900s providing more intimate scenes of family life. Kilt suits by this time had declined substantially in popularity, but still existed. Thus we do not see nearly as much of them as we would have seen in the 1890s, but still there are images providing valuable insights.







HBC






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Created: 12:54 AM 8/26/2013
Last updated: 12:54 AM 8/26/2013