Figure 1.-- These unidentified brothers look to be about 8-11 years old. They bwear identical double-breasted jackets. The basic difference in their outfits is the ruffled collar and cuffs and floppy bow the younger boy wears. The older boy also has a bow, but a much smaller one. He also has a adult looking watch fob. The studio was Ludwig Schill of Newark, New Jeresy. The cabinet card is undated, but looks like the 1890s.

A standard or sack suits came in two basic types: single- and double-breased jackets. There was a wide range of stylistic variations affecting the lapels, pockets, and other features of the jackets. We note double-breased jackets in the late-19th century. We are not yet sure about the chronology. We are unsure about the 1860s, but do see them in the 1870s. They were widely worn for many years. Double-breasted like single-breasted jackets varied in popularity over time. Double-breasted jackets came to be seen as more formal. You do not see sport jackets commonly being mde as double-breasted jackets. After the 1950s we mostly see boys wearing single-breasted suit jackets. As a youth in the 1950s, I saw double-breasted jackets as rather old fashioned. The War may have been a factor when styles usung less fabric were favored. There were some notable variations. Double-breasted jackets, like single-breasted jackets were made in different styles, including blazers. Double-breasted jackets, however, were less like to be done in the various destinctive jacket styles. Rather most double-breasted jackets over time seem to have been done in a basically similar style. While the basic style remained unchanged, the various elements of the suit such as the placement and width of the lapels did vary chronologically as fashions changed.

Styling

The double-breasted suit was one of the two principal types of sack suits. A standard or sack suits came in two basic types: single- and double-breased jackets. We note a wide range of stylistic variations on these suits. The variations included the lapels, pockets, buttons, and other features of the jackets. The laspoels varies in size and placement. The number and placement of pockets varied. We also see both slash and flap pockets. The number of buttons varied as did the conventioins for buttoning. While the basic style remained, these different elements varied chronologically as fashions changed. The stylistic details have varied over time and can be helpful in dating the portraits.

Chronology

We note double-breased jackets in the late-19th century. We are not yet sure about the chronology, but have begun to develop some vasic information. . We are unsure about the 1860s, but do see them in the 1870s. They were widely worn for many years. Double-breasted like single-breasted jackets varied in popularity over time. They seem especially popular at the turn-of-the 20th century. Double-breasted jackets came to be seen as more formal. You do not see sport jackets commonly being mde as double-breasted jackets. After the 1950s we mostly see boys wearing single-breasted suit jackets. As a youth in the 1950s, I saw double-breasted jackets as rather old fashioned. The War may have been a factor when styles usung less fabric were favored. There were some notable variations. Double-breasted jackets, like single-breasted jackets were made in different styles, including blazers. Double-breasted jackets, however, were less like to be done in the various destinctive jacket styles. Rather most double-breasted jackets over time seem to have been done in a basically similar style.

Garments

The three basic garments comprising double-breasted suits are the jacket, vest, and pants. The styling is virtually all in the jacket with the military-inspired double row of buttons. We see large numbr of boys wearing these jacket, especially around the turn of the 20th century. The older boy here is wearing knee pants s partbof his suit (figure 1). Another good example is Tom Eperson who wears knickers as part of his double-breasted suit 1908-09. Our initial assessment is that vests are less common with double-breasted suits, probably because when they were most popular because the lapels tended to be large or set high on the jacket. As more of the front is coverd with double-breasted styling, pershaps vests were seen as overkill. All the different kinds of pants were worn wih double-breasted jackets. This basically depended on the popular type of pants at the time. And because double-breasted suits were most popular around the turn of the 20th century (1890s-1900s). This means we mostly see them being worn with knee pants and knickers. By the time long pants became increasingly popular we see fewer boys wearing double-breasted jackets.

Accompanying Items

The accompnying garments worn with double-breasted jckets depoending on the populasr fashions of the day and age apropirateness. During the Fauntleroy Craze (1885-1905), we see Fauntleroy items like large collars and floppy bows being added to the younger boys wearing these suits. The youngest boys might wear Gauntleroy ruffled collars and even matching wrist cuffs. The younger boy here is a good exmple (figure 1). Sonmewhat older boys might wear large collars without the ruffles and smaller bows. Teenagers might wear detchable collars of varying styles and neckties or bow ties. The suit itself was fairly standard for a wide range of boys abd teens. Knee pants were fairly sradard, but by about age 15 years we begin tio see more boys wearing long psnts. After this we see smaller bows and eventully neckties being worn, especilly by the older boys. We see a range of collars being worn with these suits, basically following a shift from detchable to soft collars. After the turn of the 20th century, especially ny the 1910s we begfin seeing mostly neckties or bow ties abd by the 1920s miosrly sofcollared shirts with attached collars.

Age

Double-breasted suits were worn by a wide age range of boys. Some younger boys wore doublr breasted kilt suits. For the most part, however we see boys beginning to wear these double-nreasted jackets when they bebin school at about 6 years of age, but double breasted jckets seem moist cimmon a couiple years aftr boiys beguin chool at about 8 years of age. And sare common inoi the teen years. Here we see boys 8-11 years of age in the 1890s wearing double-breasted suit jackets (figure 1). We see both school age boys and teenagers wearing these suits. Mothers in the late-19th century tended to add fancy Fauntleroy collars and bows to to younger boys wearing them. At first we see boys wearing long pants, but by the 1870s we see tounger boys wearing knee pants. Younger boys mighrt wear kneep ants. Older boys wore long pants, but at the turn-of the 20th century we see many teeagers wearing knee pants. This varied from family to family.

Created: 1:05 AM 11/30/2009
Last updated: 10:33 PM 1/6/2023