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American boy wore 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 Craze 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.
American boy wore 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 Craze produced huge fancy collars. But even the plainer style had real impact like the Eton and Eton-like detachable collars.
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. Boys were more likely to wear blouses, especially younger boys. Girls also wore blouses, but dresses were more common. Blouses could be worn with detachhable collars, but attached collars were most common. Fauntleroy and sailor collars were very popular in thev 1890s and usually done as attached collars. You can get a good idea of this by navigtiong through the HBC Faunteroy section. Here we see detachable Fauntleroy collars (figure 1). Notice how many Fauntleroy outfists had collars extending to or even older the shoulders. And noyice hiw rare lace collars were. hat we see are mostly ruffled collars. The photographic record suggests that Eton collars were also popular and usually done as detachable collars, but much less common than either Fauntleroy or sailor collars in the 1890s. We are unsure to what extent boys wore shirts, This is very difficult to tell because the ptrimary characteristic of a shirt were shirt tails which obviouis do not show up in the photographic record. We think blouses and shirt waists were commonly worn by urban middle-class and ipper-class boys. We are less sure about working-class boys.
Detachable collars were very important. They had a formal look. 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 note that modern discussions of Fauntleroy outfits commonly mention lace collars. We note that Ricky Schroder when he played Litttle Lord Fauntleroy had a costume with a lace collar. Actual lace collars, however, were not very common. American boys mostly wore ruffled collars with Fauntkleroy suits. Lace collars existed, but wre not very common which we can see in the photographic record. Lace collars were more common in England, but relatively rare in America. 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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