Figure 1.-- Boys very commonly wore suits in the 1890s, including for schoolwear. There were a variety of popular styles.This advertisement from Charles Baker & Co., a London retauler, shows many popular school suit styles in 1894. Notice the style s were promoted as being the ones worn at public schools and colleges. (Colleges here mean schools not universities.) As far as we can tell thgey are the same as commonly worn by boys dressing up even when not at school. The youngest boys wore sailor suits and kneepants. Somewhat older boys wore knicker pants and the oldest boys wore long pants suits.

Newspaper advertising became much more prevlenbt in the 1880s and was very common by the 1890s. We have found an English pattern page for sailor outfits. It is not dated, but looks like the 1890s to us. We continue to see newspaper advertisement from the Charles Baker & Co. in London. They offer quite a variety of suits which were described as school suits which seem virtually identical to those we see in the late-1880s, the company seems to be reusing the same illustratioins over nd over ago. We suspect this has to do with baically unchanged styles as well as the cost of producing illustrations. Lithoographers were making notable progress, but newspaper advertising still shows very stiff lillustrations. This will change after the turn-of-the century. The illustrations provide a good look at period fashions. Unfortunately there is very little ad copy text describing the various outfits. The styles are named which is helpful. The numbers listed in great detail seem to represent prices rather than sizes. The variation in proces seems to be based on sizes, but the coresponding sizes are not indicated.

Undated

We have found an English pattern page for sailor outfits. It is not dated, but looks like the 1890s to us.

1890

1891

1892

1893

We notice a Charles Baker & Co. adverisement from December 1893 offering boys clothing and school outfits.

1894

We continue to see newspaper advertisement from the Charles Baker & Co. in London. They offer quite a variety of suits which were described as school suits. The 1894 ad seems virtually identical to those we see in the late-1880s, the company seems to be reusing the same illustratioins over and over ago. We suspect this has to do with baically unchanged styles as well as the cost of producing illustrations. Lithoographers were making notable progress, but newspaper advertising still shows very stiff lillustrations. This will change after the turn-of-the century. The illustrations provide a good look at period fashions. Unfortunately there is very little ad copy text describing the various outfits. The styles are named which is helpful and include some suit names we have not commonly noted. he numbers listed in great detail seem to represent prices rather than sizes. The variation in proces seems to be based on sizes, but the coresponding sizes are not indicated. One notable observation is that knicker panbts seem very popular for younger boys. The very youngest wore both straigt-leg knee pant and knickers, but the somewhat older boys wore knicker outfits. Thi is in contrast to America where boys including teenagers mostly wore straigh-legknee pants in the 1890s.

1895

1896

1897

We have another Charles Baker & Co. newspaper ad. This was also an ad for schoolwear. And this time unlike the 1894 ad we see some new styles.

1898

1899

Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Introduction] [Activities] [Biographies] [Chronology] [Clothing styles] [Countries] [Topics]
[Bibliographies] [Contributions] [FAQs] [Glossaries] [Images] [Links] [Registration] [Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]

Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Sailor suits] [Sailor hats] [Buster Brown suits]
[Eton suits] [Rompers] [Tunics] [Smocks] [Pinafores]

Created: 8:21 PM 8/6/2014
Last updated: 8:21 PM 8/6/2014