Figure 1.--This CDV portrait was taken in Devil's Lake, Dakota Territory. It is undated, but looks to have been taken in the 1870s. The boys wears a collar-buttoning jacket with Norfolk-styling elements, both vertical vents and a waist belt. He looks to be about 8-years old. He also wears knee pants, long stockings, and button shoes. Notice the rounded-crown straw hat on the chair.

We see collar-buttoning jackets in the mid-19th century through the very early 20th century. This was a very popular style for boys to wear after breeching, They seem to have been done in sizes for school-age children. Some boys might wear intermediate styles like sailor suits and Fauntletoy suits first. They were done in many different styles. Some of these had military syling, especially during the mid-19th century. Elements of Norfolk styling appeared in the 1870s, including vertical vents and belts. Some were done as Fauntleroy suits in the late 19th century. A good example of these collar buttoning suits is an unidentified American boy about 1870. While the jackets buttoned at the collar. Some had collars in the suit material. This did not, however, prevent mothers in the 1880s adding blouse collars and floppy bows. This added more variety to the jackets than the actual styles of the jackets themselves, We are not yet sure about the social-class conventions, but this seems a style that was worn by boys from more modest income families. We note them being worn with both knee pants and long trousrs. When they first appeared in the mid-19th century, knee pants were not yet very common. We don't see them commonly being done with knickers.

Chronology

We see collar-buttoning jackets in the mid-19th century through the very early 20th century. They were done in many different styles which varied over time. We are not entirely sure about the chronology of these suits. We are not yet sure about the 1830s as we have so few images. This of course change with the invention of photography. Beginning with the 1840s we have an increasing large number of photographs. They seem to have been very common in the 1840s and 50s, especially the military styles. We see them extensively in the Daguerreotypes during this period. And we see huge numbers in the 1860s because of the explosion of images as a result of the popularity of the CDV format. We see many collar-buttoning suits in the 1860s. A good example is V.A. Blasque about 1870. The styles of suits change, but they continue to be popular durng the rest of the 19th century.

Age

The collar-buttoning suit was a popular style for boys. Many school-age boys wore them. The collar buttoning jacket could theoretically be worn by boys after breeching, That would primarily mean boys about 3-5 years old. There were, however, other styles such as tunics, Fauntleroy suits, sailor suits, or other juvenile styles. They seem to have been done primarily in sizes for school-age children. So we see these boys shifting to collar-buttoning suits around 6 years of age. The photographic record shows mostly school age boys and younger teens wearing them wearing these suits. Here we mean boys in primarty (elementary) school, meaning 6-13 years of age. A hood example is Percy Jackman in 1999. He was 10 years old. They become less commonly worn by youths when they reached their teens. Unlike some other gsarments, the asge concentions do not seem to have varied over time, although the types of pants worn with them did vary over time. Thus we see boys wearing then to about 12-13 years of age. After this they become less common.

Types

There are two basic tyopes of collar buttoning suits. These are jackers with and without collars. We see these jackets when the first appeared with and without collars. In the mid-19th century we see many examples without collars. All we usually see is a white blouse collar peaking up at the neck. As the century progressed we see more collar-bttoninf suits with attached coolars. The boy's jacket here, we think in the 1870s, is a good examole. Unfirtunately this vecomes duifficult to track in the 1880s because of the huge collaras and floppy bows that became fashionable. hey cover up the collar area and we thuis hace no idea wether or not most of the jackets had collars. Most likely they did and were simply covered up, but we van not confirm this with the photographic record even thiough we have arived large numbers of images. Collars and bows declined in size after the turn-of-the 20th centurty, but by this time, the collar-buttoning jacket was declining in popularity.

Styles

These colar-buttoning suits were done in many different styles. The popularity of te different styles over time. Some of these colar buttoning jackets had military syling, especially during the mid-19th century. A good example is an unidentified Connecticut boy about 1865. Elements of Norfolk styling appeared in the 1870s, including vertical vents and belts. Some were done as Fauntleroy suits in the late 19th century. A good example of these collar buttoning suits is an unidentified American boy about 1870. While the jackets buttoned at the collar. Some had collars in the suit material. This did not, however, prevent mothers in the 1880s adding blouse collars and floppy bows. This added more variety to the jackets than the actual styles of the jackets themselves. We also notice jackets with Norfolk styling elements. We also notice single as well as double rows of buttons to stimulate double breasted jackets.

Social Class

We are am not yet sure about the social-class conventions, but our initial assessment is that in the mid-19th century that there was no social class orientation to these collar-buttoning jackets. We think that this may have gradually changed abd the collar-buttoning jacket may have been a style that was worn by boys from more modest income families, at least by the very late-19th century or after the turn of the century. This is our initial assessment that we need to assess.

Accompanying Clothes

We notice boys wearing a wide range of garments with collar-buttoning jackets. The pants made up the suit and normally matched the jacket, at least by the 1860s. The other items were entirely up to mother abd as he got older, the boy. We mostly see boys wearing various kinds of rounded-crown hats with collar-buttoning jackets. We suspect that the military-look version was worn with vsrious caps, but we have very few military versions with headwear. Most of the rounded-crown hats worn with the collar-buttoning jackets had narrow brims. we see very few wiyh the wide-brim hats worn by younger boys. Neckwear varied widely over time. It was not worn with the military-styled jackets. Nor was it very common with the civilian version, alyhough we see a ramge of small neck-wear types (1860s-70s). We see neckwear becoming mpre popular in the late-19th century, especially with the Fsuntleroy craze (1885). Mothers varied, but some began adding floppy bows and even large fancy collars. We are not entirely sure what kind of shirt or shirt-like garment was worn with these jackets. We see thesejackers worn with and without collar jackets showing. With the collars buttoned you could not see what was worn underneath. A good example is the jacket worn by Jesse Bell in 1884. These coats had collars rather than lapels. But some were worn so that a shirt collar of some kind peeped out at the collar. With the onset of the Fauntleroy craze (1885), mothers could not help themselves from adding fancy collsrs to tthese collsr-buttoning suits. These collars began to get larger and by the end of the decade large ruffled collars cimmonly covered up the collars of the jackets. The photographic record suggests that collar buttoning jackets were almost always wotn with two types of pants, We note collar-buttoning jackets being worn with both knee pants and long trousrs. The tyoe of pants was largely a chronological function. When they first appeared in the mid-19th century, knee pants were not yet very common. Thus we see them bring worn mostly with with long pants during the 1850s and 60s. Gradually knee pats became fashionable more common. During this period the length of kneepants varies. They tended to be quite long in the 1860s and gradually became shorter until they were knee-length by the 1890s. They were almost always worn with long stockings which also varied during this period. By the 1890s almost all boys wearing collar-buttoning jackets were wearing knee pants. We don't see them commonly being done with knickers. This was because knickers became popular suring the 1910s in America after collar-buttoning jackets had gone out of fashion. Collar buttoning jackets were usually worn with knee pants, althouigh this vsries over time. The military versions were worn with long pants. The civilian version were commonly worn wiyh knee pants, but here age was a factor and it varied over time. Mostly younger boys wore knee pants, but by the 90s we see older boys. Virtually all the boys wearing these jackets with knee psnts wore long stockings. Some boys went barefoot, but when wearing shoes it was almost always with long stockings. We are unsure what kind of hosiery the boys with long pants wore.

Created: 7:59 AM 1/22/2008
Last updated: 11:29 PM 11/15/2011