Figure 1.--We have not yet found any English catalogs from the 1870s. There were company catalogs, but as far as we know no mail order catalogs from the 1870s. The store catalogs were not very well illustrated. There were fashion magazines that did have detailed illustrations. Mant English publications during the 1870s used Paris fashion plates so the illustrations were in many cases French rather than English styles. Of course the French fashions in the magazines, influenced English fashions. One of the important English fashion magazines was The Queen Magazine A good example is a plate showing boys summer suits (August 1873).

We have not yet found any English catalogs from the 1870s. There were company catalogs, but as far as we know no mail order catalogs from the 1870s. The store catalogs were not very well illustrated. There were fashion magazines that did have detailed illustrations. Mant English publications during the 1870s used Paris fashion plates so the illustrations were in many cases French rather than English styles. Of course the French fashions in the magazines, influenced English fashions. One of the important English fashion magazines was The Queen Magazine A good example is a plate showing boys summer suits (August 1873).

The Queen Magazine (1861- )

The Queen Magazine was one of several English fashion magazines that were strongly influenced by French magazines. This is in part because fshion magzines primarily focused on women's fashions. One of the most important English magazines was the The Queen Magazine. It primarily focused on ladies fashions, but had some information about children's fashion as well. Quuen was founded by Samuel Beeton (1861). It was as the name suggest from the beginning a magazine for ladies, but not at first a fashion magazine. Beeton founded a a weekly society newspaper with very limited fashion information. Beeton focused on high society and covered London social events in detail. There were also articles on occupations, literature, and other inoffensive amusements considered to be suitable for proper ladies. The full original title of Beeton's magazine title was The Queen, the Ladies' Newspaper. Beeton did not run the magazine very long. He sold Queen to William Cox (1862). Cox realized that a major concern of society ladies was fashion amd that a publication aimed at them should include material about fashion. He began by obtaining some Paris fashion plates. He got the plates from Le Petit Courrier des Dames. The artist was A. Pauquet. He was a superb illustrator and the plates helped to make Queen a very popular magazine. Cox subsequently plates from Journal des Demoiselles. They were drawn by E. Préval, another excellent illustrator. A complication here was that even though Queen was an English fashion magazine, the fashion plates were French. The popularity of these plates caused Cox to shift the focus of Queen. The magazine became an important fashion magazine and began publishing larger plates to better show case the fashion. Cox began publishing larger plates (late 1860s). There was a lot of information about children's fashions. Commonly a child would be included with plates of adults. There were also plates dealing exclusively with children's fashions. We begin to see larger groups (1880s). Queen began running the work of A. Sandoz (1888). His plates were done with English settings and can be viewed as English fashions in contrast to the earlier French plates.

Fashion Magazines

Fashion magazines are a very important source of information about fashions during the 1870s. There are also store catalogs, but they were not very well illustrated. Major mail order catalogs did not yet exist. While the fashion magazines like Queen have lovely detailed images, they are not as reliable indicators of popular fashions as mail order catalogs. Fashion magazines in the 1870s like fashiojs magazines today often depicted fancy, styling clothing that often were not how ordinary people dressed. In particular, fashion magazines in the 19th century tended to depict how the intenational elite dressed. Here there was often more cinformity than was the case how ordinary children dressed in different countries.

British and French Fashions

The Queen Magazine was launched in 1861. While not initially a fashion magazine, it soon moved in that direction. And for many years they primarily ran Parisian fashion plates. So the fashion depicted were more French than English for many years, despite the fact that this was an English magazine. Even so, note the two sailor suits and kilt suit depicted here. They were both suits of impecable British origins. Thus there seems to have been considerble cross-fertilization across the Channel, at least as far as boys' fashionswere involved.

Summer Suits

Here we see several styles of boys summer suits. The summer aspect seems to come more from the material used than the styling. This plate shows four different suits.

Figure 1: Sailor suit

The accompanying text read, "Boy of Six.-Striped serge, short loose trousers and sailor jacket; band round the waist, pockets on the chest, and a large collar. Pattern, 2s. 2d." The sailor suit has a rather French look to it.

Figure 2: Sailor suit

The accompanying text read, "Boy from Four to Six. Holland or nanken suit, trimmed with white braid; short jacket with sailor collar. Pattern of suit, 2s. 2d."

Figure 3: Kilt suit

The accompanying text read, "Boy of Five. The Milton suit, made of either blue serge or poplin, and trimmed with white braid; full plaited skirt mounted on a waistcoat; double-breasted paletot, with pockets and musketeer cuffs. Pattern, 2s. 2d." This is a kilt suit, but there is not reference to a kilt or Scottish styling. We are not sure just what was meant by "Miltin suit". The reference seens to be usually a single breasted suit with a fitted look. The jacket here is single breated, but is not fitted.

Figure 4: Hussar suit

The accompanying text read, "Boy of Eight. Seaside suit of white flannel, trimmed with blue braid and buttons. Garde Francaise jacket opening over a Louis. XV. waistcoat; girdle over the waistcoat. Pattern of suit, 2s. 2d." The Queens staff calls this a seaside suit, we think because of the white flannel. The elaborate styling has notthing to do with seaside. The elaborate style is usually referred to as Husar styling.

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Created: 11:31 PM 9/25/2008
Last updated: 11:31 PM 9/25/2008