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United States boys clothes: suits chrnology 19th century 1830s
United States Boys' Suits Chronology: The 1830s
Figure 1.-- Unfortunately we don't have photographic images from the 1830s. The skeleton suit was going out of style. One source of information is surviving vintage garments like this suit from the 1830s. The Met staff dates it to 1837. Short jackets were worn, some with long tails. Men wore frock suits with long jackets. This boy's jacket had the lonf tails extended to the front, but not closed like a frock suit. We are not sure what to call this suit. Note the jacket, vest, and long pants pants do not match. The ruffled collar covers the collar/lapels. Source: New York Metroplitan Museum.
The 1830s was the last decade for which photographic evidence is not available, but America was growing and we have mnore imafges than ever before. Our visual information, however, is still limited, having to rely on paintings (often naive works) and drawings. While not masterworks, these naive works commonly have detailed, accurate depictions of clothing. Thedre are also some surviving vintage garments. As a result we have little information on the suits boys wore during the decade. We believe that the sleleton suits popular in the early-19th century were going out of style. The button-on jackets were declining in popularity. We see entirely sepatate short jackets. We also notice frock suits and long jackets which would have been worn by older teenagers and adults, but probably not very commonly for boys. They were most likely to wear the short jackets. We are not entire sure about the collars and lapels as we have so few images. And in some cases the top of the jacket is covered with large lace or ruffled collars. A destinctive popular style was a shirt jacket with long tails. Some of the tails expanded on to the front. For adults they closed becoming frock coats. For boys they were most liklely to be kept open. Almost closed they had a skirt like appearance. Generally the coat and pants did not match. This is difficult to follow, however, without the availability of photographic images we have so few images to work with. We thus have few details at this time. An important factor here is that America was still an agricultural country with just the beginning of economic development. This affected income and prosperity. We believe lot of boys with not have suits with expensive jackets. Boys from well-to-do families might wear tunics. America was still a largely rural country with few big cities. The population was thus largely self-sufficent, but noit very fashionable farm families. Most boys at the time probably wore simple blouses and other shirt-like garments. Relatively few boys had proper suits. (You see this in 1840s Dags--we still see realtivelky few boys wearing suits. And this was a decaded in which we do have large nunbers of images thanks to the rapidly expanding photograpphic industry.)
Information
The 1830s was the last decade for which photographic evidence is not available, but America was growing and we have mnore imafges than ever before. Our visual information, however, is still limited, having to rely on paintings (often naive works) and drawings. While not masterworks, these naive works commonly have detailed, accurate depictions of clothing. Thedre are also some surviving vintage garments. As a result we have little information on the suits boys wore during the decade.
We believe that the sleleton suits popular in the early-19th century were going out of style. The button-on jackets were declining in popularity. We see entirely sepatate short jackets. We also notice frock suits and long jackets which would have been worn by older teenagers and adults, but probably not very commonly for boys. They were most likely to wear the short jackets. We are not entire sure about the collars and lapels as we have so few images. And in some cases the top of the jacket is covered with large lace or ruffled collars. A destinctive popular style was a shirt jacket with long tails. Some of the tails expanded on to the front. For adults they closed becoming frock coats. For boys they were most liklely to be kept open. Almost closed they had a skirt like appearance.
Matching Garments
Generally the coat and pants did not match. This is difficult to follow, however, without the availability of photographic images we have so few images to work with. We thus have few details at this time.
Prevalence
An important factor here is that America was still an agricultural country with just the beginning of economic development. This affected income and prosperity. We believe lot of boys with not have suits with expensive jackets. Boys from well-to-do families might wear tunics. America was still a largely rural country with few big cities. The population was thus largely self-sufficent, but not very fashionable farm families. Most boys at the time probably wore simple blouses and other shirt-like garments. Relatively few boys had proper suits. (You see this in 1840s Dags--we still see realtivelky few boys wearing suits. And this was a decaded in which we do have large nunbers of images thanks to the rapidly expanding photograpphic industry.)
