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Our chronological information on hair bows for boys is very limited. We have no information on the 18th century or early-19th century. Presumably some information exists, but we have not yet found it. The invention of photography provides a great deal of information on the mid- and late-19th century. The popularity of hair bows for boys seems most pronounced in the late-19th century based on occuances the photographic record. This is difficult to assess. The principal source of information we have is the photographic record. We do not notice many hair bows in early photographs (1840s-60s). We are not sure if this is a true reflection, but it may well be. The affluent classes among whom hair bows would have been the most common, were the most likely to have portraits made. Photography became much less expensive with the introduction of the CDV, but we still do not see many hair bows. This suggest that hair bows were not common for boys in the early- and mid-19th century, but is no conclusive. Most of the images we have found come from the late-19th and very early-20th century. This coincides with the Fauntkleroy craze and the opopularity of long hair, especially ringlet curls for boys. We should note that even during this period, only a small portion of the boys with ringlet curls had hairbows added for their portrais. After the 1900s we rarely see boys with haur bows even the younger boys still with curls.
We have no information on the 18th century. We suspect that infants and todlers may hae worn hair bows, both boys and girls. We do not, however , have ny details at this time. We do know bows worn on quques by both boys and men. This was a destinctly male fashion. Women dud not wear quques and the bows were not like those worn by girls and women.
We continue to see a few American boys wearing hair bows into the very early-20th century. This generally conincides with the Fauntleroy craze. This often did not necesarily mean boys wearing Fautleroy suits. In fact we see more examples with boys wearing sailor suits and other outfirs and after the turn-of the 20th century, tunic suit. What most of the examples we have found have in common is long hair. And in America at the time this almost always meant ringlet curls. These curls are strongly associated with the Fauntleroy era, but this did not mean that they were always worn with Fauntleroy suits. This was primarilky the 1900s and to a lesser extent the 1910s. There was a notable change in clothing in the 1910s even before Woeld War I, but it was especially notable with the War. .
The same fynmic was at play in Europe. Some how the realities of the War berought many fashion excentrictioes into perspective. Fauntlerioy suits, lace collars, abd ringlet curls for boys suddenly seemed inappropriate in real life. The Fauntleroy Craze had largely passed and see see far fewer boys wearing dresses. The War just accelerated trends already underway. Many of the hairbows we still see are with boys wearing dressy tunics, often white tunics, meaning white hair bows. The number of portraits we see with boys wearing hairbows declined, but we still see a few boys with hairbows. A good example is an unidentified little boy photographed with his big brother, both wearing dressy white tunics. This is one of the last images we have found with a boy wearing a large hair bow. After the early-1900s we rarely see boys with hairbows even the younger boys still with curls. After World War I (1914-18) in the 1920s we no longer see boys with hairbows, except for infants.
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