Figure 1.--Here we see two unidentified Richmond brothers. They look to be about 10-12 years old. They werar identical double-breasted jackets with knee pants along with long stockings and high-top shoes. They have huge white collara and back flaps along with a floppy bow. Black long stockings were common, but these seem to be a shade matching theit suits. Notice the flap pockers. The portait is undated, but the Fauntleroy trimmings. The studio was Th eJeffersib Fine Art Gallery in Richmond, Virginia.

Flap pockets seem very popular in the 1890s. We see large numbers of double-beastred suits in the 1890s. These suits were worn mostl with long pants and knee pants depending on the boys' age and decade. Knickers were also worn by not nearly as commonm especially in America. We see very large numbers of portraits of boys wearing double-breasted jacket suits. The NewyorknCuty biy here in 1896 us a good examole (figure 1). And not only in studio portraits. We see boys wearing them to school. It was common to erar suits to school at the time in cities. We see a mix of styles, but double-breasted suits were very important. A good example is a portrait taken at the Lowell School. The school portaits are very helpful because they provide a good indicator of relative prevalence. You can look at other 1890s schools. Notice how many biysarewearing doubke-breasted suits. These suits could be worn by boys of different age, but are most common after about age 10 yeras. The younger boys might wear them with Fauntleriy items like ruffled collars abd floppy bows.

Created: 5:44 AM 12/20/2013
Last updated: 11:59 AM 6/26/2020