Grey One-piece Boy's Play Suit (1910s-20s)


Figure 1.-- We notice a grey, one-piece play suit which we assume is American, although there is no information associated with it. We would date it to the 1910s-20s. The collar was done in an Eton shape, curiously at the front and back. The collar was in the same material and color as the play suit, rather than white. We are not sure about the age of the boy that would have worn this, perhaps 4-5 years old. The grey color of course was a color chosen presumably because it did not show dirt, a factor with play suits. It was, however, a light color that would have shown some soiling. Here iss the suit front buttoned up. Put your cursor on the image to see it unbuttoned.

We notice a grey, one-piece play suit which we assume is American, although there is no information associated with it. We would date it to the 1910s-20s. The collar was done in an Eton shape, curiously at the front and back. The collar was in the same material and color as the play suit, rather than white. We have never seen that arrangement when the back was not back buttoning. The sleeves bloused and had narrow cuff at the wrists. The suit was done with short pants. The top buttoned at the front and had waist band buttons. The waist band was attacked to the botton at the front but the band separated from the pants and buttoned at the back as free straps. There was a front flap that could be unbuttoned. Seens a rather complicated arrangement for a one-piece suit. We are not sure about the age of the boy that would have worn this, perhaps 4-5 years old. The grey color of course was a color chosen presumably because it did not show dirt, a factor with play suits. It was, however, a light color that would have shown some soiling.


Figure 2.-- This ios the back vire of the playsuit. Note the collar is discontinuous and has Eton points even though there are no nack buttons. The waistline continues as straps at the back which button. There is no real practical purpose for this. Back devices like this were more common for girls than boys. I can't show the suit unbuttoned as only one mouseover functions per page. .

A reader thanks we have reversed the front and back, He writes, "Figure 2 is the front of the garment where the belt buttons and figure 1 is the back which has a drop seat." Our reader may be correct. We are not entirely sure. However we note pants in to the 19th-century and early-20th century done with arop front pannel like this instead of a fly. In addition, if the buttons are un the back, the boy could not possibly dress and undress himself. While this was known unknown for younger boys, it was not the most common arrangement. And while the suit here was for a younger boy, if was not for a younger toddler. Most boys by 4-5 years of age were able to dress themselves, although bows may have had to be tied by mother. On the other hand, figure 2 does make for a more attractive front. And this would explain why there are two sets of pointed collars. Our reader adds, "From the dealer site where I got the images for this play suit, the dropseat was clearly labeled as the back and that makes the front collar a Peter Pan type collar which makes sense with the historic record. Look at rompers from the 1920s through 1930s in the catalog section and it fits."





HBC




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Created: 9:33 PM 5/13/2010
Last updated: 7:18 PM 5/17/2010