Figure 1.-- This casbinet csrd portrait shows an unidentified Wahington, D.C. boy, we tghink in thde 1879s. He wears a basic bow, not the floppy bows that would become popular. His collar is larger thab the ones we see in thr 1860s. The studio was Instantaneous Photo in Washington.

Boys did not commonly wear bows in the mid-19th century. Neckwear was primarily stocks. The most common neckwear was the stock--often black, although we can not be entirely sure because of the black and white photgraphy of the day. We can tell that there were not many multi-colored patterned bows. Nor do we see white bows. Socks dominated neckwear at mid-century. We see vasrious styles in the 1860s. We see some stocks being done with flouishes at the neck which began to become bows. Boys clothing was realtiverly plain in the 1870s. And collars were genrrally small. They were larger than the 1860s, but were still realtively small. Neckwear trends changed significantly in the 1870s. Stocvks disappeared. We see increasing numbers of boys wearing them in the 1870s as both collars and bows increased in size. The bows we note, however, were larger than the 1860s neckwear, but generally of modest size. And we commonly see real bows for the first time. We see both ribbon T-bows and floppy bows. A good example of a ribbon bow is the one worn by an unidentified English boy. They are modest, but real bows.

Created: 2:30 AM 9/10/2007
Last updated: 8:09 AM 4/16/2021