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Early blouses were done with-button-on styling. They would not have been called bclouses at the time. We refer to them as blouses primarily because there were no shirt tails. Button-on styling was not just a fashion stylistic matter. It had an importany practical function. Younger boys had a serious problem. With their slender waists--it as difficult to hold up pants. Girls did not have this problem bcause dresses were held up by the shoulders. We do not see many boys wearing suspenders at mid-century. Nor were belts common for boys. What we see is button-on styling. Button sewn ino the blouse waistinf, fitted into button holes along the waist of the pants. The buttons seem to have more of more importance sylisisticlly on some outfits more than others. They varied in size. Some were small, ohers were larger making more of a visual stylistic impact. Blouses in the late-19th century were done with draw-string closures which created a chsacteristivc bloucing r billowing affect that spilled out out overthe waistline. After World War I, bluses were simply done without tails. In this case they could not be used to hold up the boy's pants.
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