Figure 1.--Here we see an unidentified boy wearing a collar-buttoning Eton jacket with a wide Eton collar abnd floppy bow. His little brother wears the same collar and bow with a standard collar-buttoning jacket. The studio was Mills in Peoria, Illinois. The portrait is undated, but looks like the 1880s.

We see Norfolk suits being worn with a wide variety of shirts and shirt-like garments. Shirts and blouses are more complicated in part because in the 19th century boys wore Norfolk jackets without lapels that buttoned at the collar. Thus we can not see the blouse or shirt/shirt waist they are wearing. We can see large detachable collars like Eton collars that were popular. The Norfolk collar seems especially popular with Norfolk jackets and wasworn during several decaded durung which there were major changes in shirts and collars. By the 1880s when the Norfolk suit had become a major style, we see quite a number of boys wearing it witn Eton collars. We do not, however, see many boys wearing Norfolk jackets with lace or ruffled collars. We are not exactly sure why. Presumably the age conventions for Norfolk suits were a factor or perhaps the Norfolk suit had a sporty look that did not go well with lace or ruffled collars. The Eton collar of course was also a formal collar. Both to an extent had school associations.see Eton collars after the turn-of-the 20th century, but they fradually beconme less common. After the turn-of-the 20th century we begin to see Norfolk jackets with lapels more commonly. Eton collars were still worn, but soft collars becoming increasingly common. We see Eton collars wirn much less commonly with the Norfolk jackets that had lapels.

Created: 4:56 AM 10/27/2010
Last updated: 4:57 AM 10/27/2010