Figure 1.--Here we see three American brothers, probably in the 1960s. The two older brothers wear shirts and ties. Their little brother who looks to be about 3 years old wears a button-on outfit.

Age trends for button-on clothing varied somewhat over time. Here there was a general age limit because of the purpose of the button-on clothing. Fashion was a factor, but basically it was a way of holding up trousers for young people who do not yet have developed waists. Thus we do not see button-on clothing for children over 12 years of age. This varied over time as fashion trends for children changed. We are not yet sure about 19th century trends. We see boys commonly wearing button-pn outfits in the 19th century, although styles varied. A good example is Frank Tuche in the 1870s. He looks to be anout 4 years old. We know much more about the 20th century because of the availability of catalogs with sizing information. We normally see shorts sets in the 1940s, for example, done for boys up to 10 years of age. There were exceptions to this, but age 10 was the general limit. This changed somewhat in the 1950s and by the 1960s, button on styling became primarily a style for pre-school boys. We note button-on styling being increasingly used as dressy outfits for younger boys.

Created: 8:41 PM 2/14/2008
Last updated: 9:59 PM 6/27/2010