*** American U.S. rompers creepers -- chronology 1910s








American Romper Chronology: The 1910s

American romper suit
Figure 1.-- This snapshot was from a family photo album found in Allamakee County, Iowa, primarily around Lansing. It appears to have been owned by Emma Nelson. Nearly all people are of Norwegian origin. The boy here is Robert Nelson. He wears a voluminous romper suit. He looks to be about 2-years old. Another snapshot shows Robert with bangs and wearing rompers at age 3 years. The photograph is undated, but many of the photographs in the album were from the 1910s. Most of the romper images we have found areblike this one and come from rural or small town areas like the one here.

Rompers in the 1910s were worn by boys and girls, although there were substantial age conventions. The photographic record shows substntial numbers of pre-school children, both boys and girls, wearing rompers. Because of the development of amateur snpshot photograph, we have in the 20th century not only a good idea as to how children were dessed up for formal studio portraits, but how they were dressed for day to day life around home. They were very roomy rompers, billowing out at the waistline and closing at the knees. These were one piece garments. The pants worn were similar, but more voluminous than the bloomer knickers boys wore with tunic suits. As far as we can tell, romper were as popular in America, or even more popular, than any where else during the 1910s. Most of the exmples we have found come from rural or small-town America. The snapshot here of Robert Nelson is a good example (figure 1). The examples we have found see primarily plsy outfits. We do not find and dressy outfits. We are not sure to what extent they were worn in urban areas. They were available as they were advertized in the major mail order caralogs. Rompers in America became a popular style for younger boys. We are not yet sure about the gender conventions, but we think that the romper was a toddler garment with no gender connotations. We notice both boys and girls wearing romper suits in the 1910s. And catalogs and patterns tended to describe rimoper's as a 'child's' garment. A good example is a 1912 Butterick pattern for children 1-3 years old. We are not sure if the age conventions varied for boys and girls. We notice boy, girl, and general children's rompers. A good example is the romper suits offered by Best & Company, a New York Department store in their Spring-Summer 1912 catalog. They were available in sizes up to 5-8 years, depending on the style. We do have some images showing girls wearing rompers. How common this was I am not sure. I do know that older American girls were wearing a kind of romper or bloomer suit became a standard for girls' gym classes in high schools.

Gender

Rompers in the 1910s seem to have been worn by boys and girls. We are not yet sure about the gender conventions, but we think that the romper was a toddler garment with no gender connotations. We notice both boys and girls wearing romper suits in the 1910s. And catalogs and patterns tended to describe rimoper's as a 'child's' garment. A good example is a 1912 Butterick pattern for children 1-3 years old.

Age

There were substantial age conventions. Rompers were a style for pre-school children. We are not sure if the age conventions varied for boys and girls. We notice boy, girl, and general children's rompers. A good example is the romper suits offered by Best & Company, a New York Department store in their Spring-Summer 1912 catalog. They were available in sizes up to 5-8 years, depending on the style. We do have some images showing girls wearing rompers. How common this was we are not sure. We do know that older American girls were wearing a kind of romper or bloomer suit became a standard for girls' gym classes in high schools. America t the tinmewas begiinung to expn is secondary schooln system. This meant that quite a number of teenage girls were wering them.

Prevalence

The photographic record shows substntial numbers of pre-school children, both boys and girls, wearing rompers. Because of the development of amateur snpshot photograph, we have in the 20th century not only a good idea as to how children were dessed up for formal studio portraits, but how they were dressed for day to day life around home. And we see a lot of family snapshots with children wearing rompers. As far as we can tell, romper were as popular in America, or even more popular, than any where else during the 1910s. We are not sure to what extent they were worn in urban areas. They were available as they were advertized in the major mail order caralogs. Rompers in America became a popular style for younger boys.

Construction

The rompers we see in the 1910s were very roomy rompers, billowing out at the waistline and closing at the knees. We think this was becausev they nwerre worn by children before they were potty trained. These were one piece garments. The pants worn were similar, but much more voluminous than the bloomer knickers boys wore with tunic suits. The snapshot here of Robert Nelson is a good example (figure 1).

Demographics

As far as we can tell, romper were as popular in America, or even more popular, than any where else during the 1910s. But we are still working on that. Most of the examples we have found come from rural or small-town America.

Usage

The examples we have found are mostly snapshots showing primarily play outfits. We see realtively few in stiudio portraits. There are a dew, but rather rare. Ibsead the vast majority of examples are family snapshots. This is important because studio portatits tend to show the children dressed up in mostly formal or at least smart casual clothes . Family snapshots are more likely to show the children in play clothes around the home. The snapshot here, for example, was from a family photo album found in Allamakee County, Iowa (figure 1). The boy is Robert Nelson. He wears a voluminous romper suit. He looks to be about 2-years old. Another snapshot shows Robert with bangs and wearing rompers at age 3 years. Clearly this is the kind of outfit he wore for every day at home. We have found few examples of dressy outfits in the photographic record, although we see quite a few in the mailorder catalogs of the day. We note, however, that these dressy rompers seem more prevent in the 1920s mail order catalogs than the 1910s catalogs, but our archive is still limuted.





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Created: 12:13 PM 6/20/2021
Last updated: 8:21 PM 7/22/2022