Figure 1.--This cabinet card shows a brither and sister holding hands. They look to be about 3-6 years of age. The portrait was taken in 1883. He is wearing a collar buttoning suit with knee pants nd striped stockings. The studuio was Strong & Root in Aledo and Keithsburg, Illinois.

Most of the stripped long stockings we have noted in the photographic record have been in the 1870s We continue to see striped long stockings in the 1880s, especially the early-1880s. A good example is Illinois boy Roy Hammomd in 1881. His stockings are done in light colors. Another example is the unidentified Illinois boy here in 1883 (figure 1). He wears striped stockings. Another example is Jesse Bell, during 1884. Fashing changes do not occur neatly by decade. But while we see srriped stovkings in the early 1880s, overall the pevalenve of striped stockings notaly declined during the decade. After mid-decade we begin to see fewer stripped stockings. Striped stockings did not, however, dominate children's hosiery in the 1880s as it did in the 70s. We see black or other dark colors done as flat/solid colors rather than in patterns. This is most noticeable in the huge number of Fauntleroy images. Mrs. Burnett published Little Lord Fauntleroy (1885). But a very small number of boys wearing Fauntlerooy suits wore striped stockings. There were some, but not very many. The same was true of sailor suits which wre worn by somewhat older boys. Stripe stockings by the end of the dcade were if not rare, certainly not very common. White the trend is most apparent with Fauntleroy suits it is also noticeable with regular suits as well. A problem here is that so few portraits are dated. Here Little Lord Fauntleroy images are especially useful as they all date from th 1885 inwards. Thus we can date these images more accuratently than some kither images. And it needs to be pointed out, that both boys and girls wore these long stockings and the chrnological trends fir both boys and girls were essentially the same.

Created: 8:34 PM 8/7/2017
Last updated: 9:08 PM 10/10/2017