Figure 1.--This unidentified American boy was photographed with a toy sailboat in a cabinent card portrait. He wears a collar-buttoning jacket with some indication of Norfolk styling--vertical vents. He also wears a small floppy bow. The Norfolk-styled jacket was part of a knee pants suit worn with long stockings and high-top button shoes. The photographer was C.A. Gale in Piqua, Ohio. The portrait is undated, but looks to have been taken in the 1880s.

HBC has noted that Norfolk suits were very commonly worn by American boys for quite an extended peruod. We note Norfolk suits primarily during the 1880s-1930s, but this needs to be fleshed out more precisely. There are two primary sources of information. We note American clothing catalogs with pages offering several different styles of Norfolk jackets. We also note many American photographs showing boys commonly wearing Norfolk jackets. The style may have appeared in America during the 1870s, but we need to confirm this. We see many boys wearing jackets with Norfolk elements by the 1880s. Like many 19th century styles, the Norflk suit continued into the 20th century. A good example of Norfolk suits is the suits worm by twin brothers, probably in the early 1920s.

The 1860s

The Norfolk suit may have appeared in America during the 1860s, but we have not yet found images from the photographic record to confirm this. A problem here is that we have a relatively limited archive of English imaages. England of course is where the Norfolk suit first appeared, but because of the limited information we are not entirely sure just when the style appeared. One source suggests the 1860s, but we can not yet confoirm that. Given the importance of English styles, it is likely that they appeared in merica very quickly after first appearing in England.

The 1870s

Our assessment of the photographic record at this time is inconclusive concerning Norfolk suits. We have found a few studio portraits of American boys that seem to be wearing Norfolk suits in the 1870s. Many are undated estimates, however, that we are estimating to date to the 70s. This presents an element of uncertainty to our chronology. And we do not yet have many catalogs from the 1870s to confirm this. As best we can tell, Norfolk suits were not all that common in the 1870s, but we do seen to be a few. The jackets we have found had collar-buttoning jackets.

The 1880s

We know that the Norfolk suit had become a major style by the 1880s. The photographic record shows large numbers of American boys wearing Norfolk-styled suit jackers. We see many boys wearing the classic Norfolk jascket with vertical vents and hortizontal belts. We see many boys wearing jackets with Norfolk elements by the 1880s. Most seem to have been knee pants suits. A good example is a New York teenager in the 1880s. Like many 19th century styles, the Norflk suit continued into the 20th century. The Stern catalog offered a range of suits with Norfolk styling in 1885. We continue to see a lot of collar-buttoning jackets.

The 1890s

Norfolk styled suits continued to be widely worn by American boys in the 1890s. They were worn throughout the decade. We still primarily notice the vertical vents. The horizontal belts were much less common. The vertical vents were done in a number of differnt ways. The suits were done in both the collar buttoning types and the lapel types. Younger boys wore them with bows. We also notice Eton collars and other large white collars. Very small lapels were stylish in the early-1890s. Most Norfolk syits in the 1890s were done as knee pants suits and almost always worn with long stockings. We note an Lancaster, Pennsylvania boy wearing a Norfolk suit in the 1890s.

The 1900s

Norfolk suits were popular in the 1900s. The jackets we see not only had the verticle vents, but also the chorizontal belt. We note two unidentified brothers, probably in the late-1900s, wearing identical Norfolk suits. Terminology is always a problem. We notice Sears using the tern Norfolk suit in 1902, but the suits do not have Norfolk styling. We note Samuel W Peck offered Norfolk suits in 1903. The suits were mostly worn with straigh-leg knee pant until the very late-1900s when we begin to see knicker suits. We are not sure what brought about such a rapid change in popular fashions.

The 1910s

Norfolk suits were very popular in America during the 1910s. A Norfolk knickers suit was almost a standard convention for schoolwear along with a flat cap. For some reason the fashion for boys suits very suddenly changed from knee pants to knickers about 1909. Just as mosts boys in the 1900s wore straight-leg knee pants, bous in the 1910s mostly wore knickers. Some younger boys wore knee panrs, but knivckers vertraodly becanme standard boys' wear. We note them worn very commonly at school. We still see city boys still wearing suits to school in the 1910s. Norfolks suits seem the most common and they were commonly knicker suits until the last years of secondary school. Boys commonly wore knickers through age 13-14 years and some boys wven longer. This varied from family to family. We notice Schman Norfolk suits that were called Knockabout suits in 1911. We note National Norfolk knicker suits in brown and grey. Note that brown was at the time a very popular color for boy's suits and pants. Both suit and pants were lined. I am not positive about the use of the term Cassimere with these suits. They were made in sizes 7 to 17/18 years. Probably not to many boys were still wearing knickers at age 17 years, but a few were, especially in the early 10s. the ad is a little misleading. Parents also had long pants suits to chose from. The three-piece suits consist of a jacket, knickers, and detachable belt. We notice Sears Norfolk suits in 1919.

The 1920s

Norfolk suits continued to be popular in America during the 1920s. We still see many American boys wearing Norfolk suits in the 1920s. And the Norfolk suits were still commonly knicker suits. Some boys still wore suiits to school, although this was less common than in the 1900s ahd 10s. This was part of an overall trend for more casual clothe that was a notable trend after World war I. The popularity of Norfolk styling was, however declining. Many of the examples we have found come from the early 20s. Norfolk styling ws less popular by the end of the decade. They were commonly worn by primary school boys and younger ten agers. We no longer see older tennagers wearing as were seen in the early-20th century. A good example is Raymond Uferte in 1921. Another example of Norfolk suits is the suits worm by two brothers, probably in the 1920s. Right-Posture was a brand of boys clothing for the Snellenburg Clothing Co. They published advertisements showing Norfolk suits in 1920. We note an unidentified brother and sister in 1924. The boy wears a flat cap with a Norfolk knickers suit.

The 1930s

We see fewer Norfolk suits in the 1930s.

Created: 12:54 AM 4/3/2005
Last updated: 2:41 AM 8/14/2012