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Boys very commonly wore suits in the 1880s. There were a variety of popular styles. The youngest boys wore sailor suits. Thevery youngestboys wore skirts with their sailor suits rather than knee pants. Older boys wore kneepants suits and the older boys wore long pants suits. Curiously the mid-age boys were not pictured with headwear We note a store advertisement for a range of popular suit styles in 1889. There are suitable styles for boys of various ages. We also note an advertisement for various school outfits during the 1880s. As some of the styles overlap, it would have been placed at about the same time as the 1889 advertisement. The firm was Charles Baker & Co., a retailer that had several outlets in London--in Fleet Street (in the City), in Oxford Street (in the West End), and in Tottenham Court Road. Unfortunately there is no description of the various suits.
Younger boys commolnly wore sailor caps and hats. Older boys moght wear top hats and bowlers. Curiously the mid-age boys in a Charles ad Bzker ad were not pictured with headwear.
Sailor suits appeared to have been worn by English boys, but we are not entirely sure what the age conventions were. Yonger boys wore skirted sailor suits called kilted suits. Older boys wore mostly knee pants sailor suits, although long pants suits were available. Apparently girls wore sailor suits to an oldr age than boys. There were several different styles of sailor suits, but most had fairly traditional styling.
The London clothing store offeed four sailor outfits. Most came with lanyards and whistles. The youngr boy wears a sailor cap while the older boys wear sailor hats. These would have been purchased se[arately. The first was askirted outfit described as a kilt suit. The skiert does not, however, seem to have any kilt fetures other than pleats. It loks to be a plain pleated skirt. This outfit was worn by both boys and girls, younger boys but both younger and older girls. The boy sizes are not indicated, but they were availble for girls from age 6-12. The store also had three knee pants sailor suits some of which could also be had with long trousers. The store appears to use the term "knickers" to describe knee pants. They use "trousers" to mean long pants or trousers. There is a blue suit done in serge and a white suit done in drill. And there is a suit done in velvet for special occassions. There is detiled price infornation, but unfortunately little referene to sizes.
We also note an advertisement for various school outfits during the 1880s. As some of the styles overlap, it would have been placed at about the same time as the 1889 advertisement. The firm was Charles Baker & Co., a retailer that had several outlets in London--in Fleet Street (in the City), in Oxford Street (in the West End), and in Tottenham Court Road. Unfortunately there is no description of the various suits.
The Charles and Baker advertisement illustrated a wide range of boys suits in many different styles for various age ranges.
We do not have much information on coats. Boys wearing sailor suits commonly wore reefer jackets.
All of the outfits for boys offered by Charles and Baker had either knee pants or to a lesser extent long trousrs for the older boys. Unfortunately only limited age information is available.
The illustrations from Charles and Baker show the boys mostly wering three-quater socks. One illustration seems to show long stockings. The validity of the illustrations showing items not for sale tend to be less than that for the items actually being sold.
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