Figure 1.--The unidentified boy looksto be about 10-11 years old. He wears a lapel sack suit with a vest and long pants done un a heavy material. Notice hos the vest matches the suit. This American CDV portrait is undated, but looks like the 1860s to us. The boy is posed like a Daguerreotype portrait, a good indication of an early CDV. It problavly means a Dag photograoher who was switching to CDVs. The studio was Smith's Gallery of Art, Utica, New York.

The two basic elements of a suit are the jacket/suit and pants/trousers were a optional element. The jacket is the most important element of a suit. It generally gives the name to the suit type. There were several different jacket types. Pants commonly called trousers in Britain are the second principal element of the suit. We see more diverse pants types in the 1860s which were primarily age based. Some younger boys wore suits with long-cut knee pants but we also see long pants. Almost all older boys wore suits with long pants. There were also button-on outfits. Many boys wore suits without vests in the 1860s, but we see quite a few vests as well.

Jackets

The jacket is the most important element of a suit. It generally gives the name to the suit type. There were several different jacket types. We notice some boys with collar buttoning jackets similar to the 1850s. The military styles, despite the outbreak of the Civil War, seem to becoming less popular. These collar buttoning jackets were a style for younger boys. And most younger boys commonly wore suits with cut-away jackers. These cut-away jackets were very popular during the 60s. Older boys wore lapel jackets. The longer lengths common in the 1850s began to be shorter in the 1860s. These lapel jackets were the primsry style worn by older boys.

Vests

Vests changed markedly in the 1860s. We no longer see the loud, colotful vessts tht were popular in the 40s abd 50s. We see boys wearing suits with and without vests. Many boys wore suits without vests in the 1860s, but we see quite a few vests as well. The vests were mostly matching vests. The contrasting vests seen in the 1850s declined sharply in popularity. Thus the matching jacket and vest with the pants is a hallmark of the 1860s. We are not sure which was more common. The photographic record shows that both options were very common. We note vests being worn with different types of jackets. This somewhat affected the style of vest. Cutaway jackets were usually worn with plsin bests. Lapel jackets were often wirn with lapel vests. We do not see boys wearing just the vests. The only images we have found to date show boys wearing vests with jackets. We have not yet established any age conventions. Many vests had small lapels, rather like minature sleeveless suit jackets.

Pants

Pants commonly called trousers in Britain are the second principal element of the suit. We see more diverse pants types in the 1860s which were primarily age based. Some younger boys wore suits with long-cut knee pants but we also see long pants. Almost all older boys wore suits with long pants. There were also button-on outfits. These wre two-pices suits with shirt-like tops that buttoned onto the pants. A waistline deviceoften hid the buttons. Here a good example is C. Stewart in 1865. Older boys wore more modern looking sack suits began to be worn in the 1860s. Often they do not seem to fit real well. Younger boys in fashionable families might wear kneepants suits, especially in cities. Less affluent boys and boys in rural areas wore long trousers more commonly, especially older boys until the 1890s. A good example is Stephen Uchlein about 1869.

Created: 12:30 AM 2/14/2008
Last updated: 12:30 AM 2/14/2008