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The suits were commonly worn with blouses as well as shirt waists. We notice many different styles of shirt waists and blouses offered in the Best Department Store Fall and Winter catalog. This was an important New York City department store which published catalogs and is now a major source of fashion information. Much of our information for 1892-93 comes from this catalog which was well illustrated. Some of the terminology in the catalog seems to be company-specific and not commonly used terms. Notice the Fauntleroy blouse here (figure 1). Fauntleroy blouses were common in 1892, but mostly white. We rarely see ones like the Best blouse shown on the previous page. There were a range of detachable collars that were worn with shirt waists and collar buttoning suits, although we some times see them on other suit jackets as well. We notice the Double Ve Waist being offered for infants, boys and girls, young ladies, and women. The term waist' was an abbreviation for shirt waist. This was a short-like top tht came without a collar and were worn with detachable collars, although we see examples with collars as well. It made a transition over time, but was commonly worn by children and becoming increasingly popular with women as it could be worn without a jacket.
American boys in the 1890s commonly wore suits and they were commonly worn with with blouses. At the times we do not see boys wearing shirts or even shirts being advertised for them. We notice many different styles of blouses and shirt waists offered in the Best Department Store Fall and Winter catalog. This was an important New York City department store which published catalogs and is now a major source of fashion information. Much of our information for 1892-93 comes from this catalog which was well illustrated. Some of the terminology in the catalog seems to be company-specific and not commonly used terms. Notice the Fauntleroy blouse on the previous page. Fauntleroy blouses were common in 1892, but mostly white. We rarely see ones in the photographic record like the Best blouse shown on the previous page. We note considerable variation both in the style of the blouse and in the fabric used, we note not only cotton, but linen and silk. Blouses were more likely to be done in silk than the shirt waists. We are not sure why that was.
Shirt waists were very important in the 1890s. The term 'waist' was an abbreviation for shirt waist. This was a short-like top that came without a collar and were worn with detachable collars, although we see examples with collars as well. It made a transition over time, but was commonly worn by children and becoming increasingly popular with women as it could be worn without a jacket. We were not sure what a shirt waist was. The shirt waists we see look much like blouses. We thought at first that they were dome without collars which were worn with detachable collars. But many shirt waists had collars. As best we can tell, what defined a shirt waist was that it extended bellow the waist. Not far bellow the waist, but enough to provide the fabric needed so that cold be tucked into the pants or for girls the skirt. And like blouses, shirt waists could be variously styled. And unlike blouses, some came without collars so that detachable collars could be easily added. The Best fall-winter 18920-82 catalog offered a variety of shirt waists. We notice the Double Ve Waist being offered for infants, boys and girls, young ladies, and women.
The shirt with attached collars has a long history and was the standard garment for mem Detachable collars appeared in the mud-19th century. This was imprtant for middle- and uippr-class men. Working -class men including farmers (America was still predominately rural in the 1890s) might wear a detachable collars for formal occassionsd. This meant that the great builk of the population wore shirts with attached collars. As far as we can tell, the terms 'white collar' and 'blue collar' did not begin to be used until the early-20th century. Boys were more likely to wear blouses, especially younger boys. Girls also wore blouses, but dresses were more common.
There were a range of attached and detachable collars that were worn with both attached and detachable collars. We see these collars worn with a wide variety of suits. Younger boys might just wear a blouse or suit waists without a suit jackets. The collar is the generally the most distinctive element of the top, especially during the late 19th century when the Fauntleroy raze produced huge fancy collars. But even the plainer style had real impact like the Eton and Eton-like detachable collars. The Eton collar with pointed tips was a fashion item for decades. But we see these collars done in many different styles. Peter Pan collars gad rounded tops. That term was not used, however, until the 20th century. And there were Eton like collars at ever point between the standard Eton and rounded Peter Pan collar. Often it is difficult to see the tips of a boy's collar in the photographic record bcause they are engulfed by the huge floppy bow popular in the late-19th century. With both Fauntleroy and Eton collars, these large bows were popular, but optional. The fanciest collars were the huge affixed ruffled collars American boys wore as part of Fauntleroy outfits. Seemingly, the smaller the boy, the larger the bow. A factor here is that older boys probably put up more resistance.) As far as we can tell, these came as attached parts of the Fauntleroy blouses of the era. We have not yet found these large ruffled collars done as detachable collars. They also came with matching wrist cuffs. There were two types of detachable collars. One was the the arrangement affixed to a boy's collar to keep it fixed in place. This is how Eton collars were done and held fast. Lace collars were a little different. They were commonly done with collar buttoning jackets and just pinned on to the jacket or attached with a few quick stitches. These lace collars and associated arrangements seem more common in England than America. We have fewer English catalogs, but do have a substantial and growing photographic record.
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