Figure 1.--This is a Rowe of Bonds Street catalog page on "Stuff and Party Suits". The catalog pagesare undated, but we belive date to te 1910s. Rowe of Bond Street was an up-scale retailer. The company for several decades set the standard for children's clothes. Bond steet is an important London retail shoping district. retailer. As was common at the time, there were a great asortment of outfits to choose from. The outfits were for boys from 2-7 years of age. The 7-year cutoff stems from the fact that boys at about 8-years of age began to attend preparatory boarding schools and wear more mature looking suits.

English boys up to about 8 years of age wore a wide range of fancy juvenile suits. They might be called party suits, of course meaning outfts for parties and other spcial occassions. Unlike today, children used to dress up for parties. Age 8 years was an important age for suit styling. At about this age boys from affluent families were often sent the boys off to boarding schools. Thus high-end stores began oferring more mature looking suits for boys at about this age. Thus you can see that these fancy suits were only offered up to size 7 years and most in even younger sizes. Included among the party suits were blouse and short sets for boys without jackets. Rowe of Bond Street offered a wide variety of party suits for younger boys up to age 7 years. There were many fancy suits,including both jacket suits and blouse short sets. Rowe of Bond Street was an up-scale retailer. The company for several decades set the standard for children's clothes. Bond steet is an important London retail shoping district. The company tried to market in America after World war, sending representives to important american department stores. And we notice items from the company that seem to run into the 1930s. This is apparently the company that made the coat that JFK Jr. wore saluting his father's casket (1963). We have a Rowe page we believe to be from a 1910s catalog. One offers a range of party suits and another for blouses and tops from their catalog. Unfortunately it is not dated. We would guess the late-1910s. The early-20s is a possibility

Age Conventions

English boys up to about 8 years of age wore a wide range of fancy juvenile suits. They might be called party suits, of course meaning outfts for parties and other spcial occassions. Unlike today, children used to dress up for parties. Age 8 years was an important age for suit styling. At about this age boys from affluent families were often sent the boys off to boarding schools. Thus high-end stores began oferring more mature looking suits for boys at about this age. Thus you can see that these fancy suits were only offered up to size 7 years and most in even younger sizes. Give the very high prices that Rowe charged, virtually all of the children for whom the outfits were purchased would be sent to private schools which at the time usually meant boarding schools. Of course when we say private schools, this meant preparatory schools and than public schools.

Garment Notes

A range of garments and farment elements are offered here are shown in the illustrations. They provide some interesting insights on oeriod fashions.

Party Suits

We are not sure what Rowe meant by 'Stuff', but the outfits here, esoecilly the ones illustrated were clearly party suits, nany very fancy party suits. Included among the party suits were blouse and short sets for boys without jackets. We think this is what Rowe is referring to by the term 'Buster'. Why this term was chosen we are not sure. It is not how Buster Brown was dressed. The jackets depicted are interesting. They are not like the small, cut-away jacket worn with Fauntleroy suits. Some are in fact quite long. They are to a degree worn open, but we note a middle rather than a top button.

Collars

The collars used with these outfits is interesting. Note that there are no Eton collars depicted. Rather Rowe is using Peter Pan collars, one with ruffled trim. We see this with both the Busters and the jacketed suits. Apparently Rowe was using the Peter Pan collar as a juvenile style. Eton collars were still being used for school wear, but declining in popularity. Interestingly, the juvenile Etonnsuits in America wre worn with both Eton and Peter Pan collars. We do see a Georgette collar. We were not entirely sure what was meant by 'Georgette collar. We at first thought it meant the shape of the collar. The one pictured here is a large white, rounded collar. This was a residual Fauntleroy feature, but not relted to the name. Apparently the reference is to the fabric used. Georgette is a crêpe fabric--Crepe-de-chine dscribe above. The usage here comes from crêpe Georgette, is a sheer, lightweight, dull-finished crêpe fabric named for the the early 20th century French dressmaker Georgette de la Plante. It was originally a silk fabric and the one pictured here was surely silk crêpe Georgette with a crinkly surface. As we see on this page, the favric was used for blouses and youngr boy's pants. It as also used for girls' and women's dresses aswell as trimmings like the collar with this kilted suit. crêpe Georgette is springier and less lustrous than the closely related chiffon which was not used for boys' clothes.

Hosiery

Hosiery was not offered for sale on this page. But note that all the illustration show white socks, bith knee socks and thre-quster socks. This also added a juvenile look. Older boys did not wer white socks. They were worn by girls and seen by oldr boys as a girlish style.

Rowe of Bond Street

Rowe of Bond Street offered these suits was an up-scale retailer. The company for several decades set the standard for children's clothes. Bond steet is an important London retail clothing shoping district. Prince Bertie's famous sailor suit was reportedly done by a Bond Stree tailor (1846). Rowe was perhaps the most prestigious shop for children's clothes. They were able to use the line, "By appoitment to their majecties the King and Queen." This mean that at least some of the clothes for King George V's children were bought from Rowe. This meant a lot of the sailor suits which the King favored as wellnas dresses for the younger boys and Princess Mary. Of course it did not mean that all of the children's clothes were purchased, there but some were. One father writes about his first born, " I put his name up for Harrow and Eton and insisted that he be clothed by Rowe's of Bond Street, a ridiculously expensive store specializing in Spoiled Children's Clothes so fancy that they were suitable only for coronations -- and which were outgrown in a match strike." [Reynolds] There seems to have been another store in Gosport. The company tried to market in America after World War I, sending representives to important American department stores. And not just the purchaing departments, but went on the floor and advised mothers shopping for chuldrens clothes. We note this in Pittsburgh. A newspaper ad or the Joseph Horne Department Store read, "W.H. Davey representiing Rowe of Bond Street will be in our Children's Shops, tomorrow and Wednesday to advise and assist in the selection of children's fall and winter wardrobes. He will also present samples of children's apparel, not in our regular stocks for which orders will be taken." Pictures in the ad are a trim sailor suit in serge or cheviot for boys and a reffer jacket for girls. ["Rowe ...", p. 11.] This suggests Rowe representatives were active all over the country. Surely they would they done the same in the big northeastern cities. It also means that they were not only a retailer, but had a line of clothing with their own brand. And we notice one museum site showing items from the company that seem to run into the 1930s. This is apparently the company that made the coat that JFK Jr. wore saluting his father's casket (1963).

Chronology

We have a Rowe page we believe to be from a 1910s catalog. One offers a range of party suits and another for blouses and tops from their catalog. Unfortunately it is not dated. We at first guessed the the late-1910s. The early-20s was also a possibility Hopefully we will eventially be able to date it. We have begun to think it may be 1925, because of the Journal Mr. Rowe published. It seems to a hard cover version of one of his catalogs.

Juvenile Offerings

Rowe of Bond Street offered a wide variety of party suits for younger boys up to age 7 years. There were many fancy suits, including both jacket suits and blouse short sets. Here are the outfits offered, some of which have accomanied illustrations. In addition to the many different juvenile offerings, Rowe advises their clients, " Page and Fancy Dress Suits and Period Costumes made to order in all styles and periods. Such garments would have been used to dress up children for society weadings. Notice that there are no sailor suits among the fancy outfits listed and depicted here. The ad copy provides not only useful information about syling, but a lot of helpfulminformation about the fabrics used. The prices indicated are very expensive and this is reflected in the high quality fabrics and finishings, including the use of silk and velvet. We note a lot of 'Buster' out fits and even a kilted outfit, a style going out if fashion for boys when not done in the Highland fashion. Especially notable is the use of Peter Pan rather than Eton collars. This was part of the juvenile styling.

More Mature Looking Suits

In addition to all the fancy suits, we also notice several more standard, mature looking suits. These are not illustrated, only listed so we are not entirely sure what the style was. They unlike the fancy suits could be worn to school, but they are not school suits as such because there was a separate page in the catalog for school suits. Here we may have a sailor suit included. The sizes are all in the older category, 5-7 years of age. As we are unsure just what the garments here were, we welcome comments from readers who may have comments.

RJ 241: Jacket and shorts

The Rowe ad copy read, "Jacket and shorts, gabardine; navy, brown, fawn." We assume this was a suit, although gabardine is more associated with overcoats/raincoats than a suiting fabric. The size ramge is 5-7 years.

RJ 242: Fine covert coating

The Rowe ad copy read, "Fine covert coating; double breasted." Again we are left to wonder just what was mean here. A covert coat began as a short overcoat for riding, and was generally double breasted. It evolved into a single breasted suit jacket still associated with riding. The title appears to describe a garment worn with fabric used for covert coats. Given the context this may be a double-breasted cover suit or possibly an overcoat. Without annillustration, we are not sure.The size ramge is 5-7 years.

RJ 243: Navy suit

The Rowe ad copy read, "Navy suit, two piece; belt all round." The size ramge is 5-7 years. We are guessing here that this is a sailor suit. We would be a little surprised that Rowe would have a page for this age range and not include a sailor suit. 'Navy' is, however, also a color--dark blue. And it is a very important color in boys' clothing. The reference to a 'belt all round sounds a bit like a Norfolk suit or even a tunic suit. It seems less common for a sailor suit. At the time, a navy Norfolk suit with knickers was the standard suit for American boys, but not all that common in England.

RJ 244: Tweed two-piece

The Rowe ad copy read, "Tweed two-piece; fawn, grey." The size ramge is 5-7 years. We assume that this refers to standard tweed sioys, presumably single=breasted suits and because of the age range done with short pants. Tweed suits like flannel wee a standard for English boys' clothes.

Priceing

The Rowe pricing is interesting for several reasons. First of all these items are very expensive. Most mothers could not have afforded them. Rowe clothes were for very well-to-do families. Second they were expressed in shillings and not pounds. We are not sure why thus was. A British reader tells us, "I thought it was strange to put the price in shillings rather than pounds, shillings and pence. Another way was to show the price in guineas = 21 shillings would be £1.1.0 81/6 easier than £4-1-6. 84/- would be 4 guineas. Originally it was a certain amount of gold."

Sources

Reynolds, Jonathan. "FOOD; Nut Cracking," New York Times (December 22, 2002).

Rowe, W.A. The Rowe Journal: Rowe of Bond Street - Clothes for Young Men, Young Ladies, School Boys, School Girls and Children of Kindergarten Age (1925). Unfortunately we have not yet been able to find a copy. But the pages a readervhave provided us here may come from this book.

"Rowe of Bond street," The Pittsburgh Press (September 17, 1928), p.11. Note the date, just before Black Thurday and the Wall Stree crash leading to the Great Depression. This presumably would have forced the company to cut back on American markting.

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] [Short pants] [Tunics] [Knits] [Smocks] [Pinafores]

Created: 6:18 PM 10/20/2014
Last updated: 2:41 PM 10/26/2014