The boys collars has varied substantially over time. Boys' collars like men's collars rise and fall with fashion trends. The widths and shapes of collars have fluctuated with neckwear trends. Collars in the mid-19th century tended to be very small. This contrasted with the very large collars worn in the late-19th century. The huge floppy bows worn in the late-19th century rather overwealmed all but the largest collars. In some eras, boys' collars were identical or similar to men's collars, such as 18th Century jabots or moddern buttondowns. In other times they were different, such as sailor collars and Fauntleroy lace collats. Another important collar was the Eton collars worn in the late 19th and early 20th century. These were detachable collars. After World war I boys normally wore shirts with attached collars.

The 14th Century

Until the 15th century collars did noy exist. What might be called shirts were basically undergarment like tops with open, round, or scoop necklines and mostly long sleeves. Cotton was not yet commonly ued, it was a very expensive fabric. These tops were made of linen or hemp.

The 15th century

Collars firt appeared (mid-to-late 15th century). The first collars were simple standing bands of fabric sewed around the neckline. And unlike most fashion inovations, it wasn't introduceds by the nobility. It was introduced by Catholic clerics. Priests began wearing stiff tunics with high necks. It is not clear why this occurred. Perhaps it was amatter of identity. OOr maybe it was a practical mattr. Sewing on a collar to a worn provideda more comforatable fabric than the tunic’s stiff neck which was said to waer on the neck skin. The clerical collar was the obly visible part waht had bee an undergarment. It was a slender, but distinct strip of white fabric at the neckline idenifying tghe wearer. Whatever the origin, the collars became distinctive symbols of humility and purity. It wasn't until much later that this as standardized. Scottish Reverend Donald McLeod invented and popularized the modern clerical collar (called dog collars) now worn by modern Christian clerics.

16th Century

The next step in the history of the collar was extrodinary and pursued by the aristocracy which were the aribitors of fashion. Tne nobility od course wasintersted in syynold of identity and staus which mean that the idea of mdesty fell flat. hat dis appeal was loud display of wealth and status. So the collar became a flamboyan fashion statement laading to a artrial arms race. There are many such items n the history of fashion, such as codpieces and absurdly pointy shoes. AsEurope emrged from the medieval era, Renaissance aristocacyadoped extravagant ruff collars. These became plate-sized, stiffly starched pleated ruffs around their necks. They were not attached to the undergarment. They were the most ipractical ever, much more than the Fauntleroy collars later infliced on American boys. While imractical and waht we now see asabsurd, they had a purpose. These ruff collarsidentified who had money and social standing. Only the aristocracy and wealthy merchant class could afford them. And of course people who actually had to work could not wear them. You might think that they were absurd, but they were fashionable for a century..

The 17th Century

We still these extrodinary ruffs (early-17th century), but soon fell out of fashion. We see two new styles of neck bands. One style was the falling band. his layed flat on the shoulders. Two was the standing band, a kind of semicircular collar. It stood up stiffly at the back of the neck. Then straight edges at the front went under the chin. Both these collars were worn by men and women. Theey were both an asctual part of a shirt or bodice or kept in place by small ties. It is in the 17th collar that what we see as arecogniziable collar began to appear as a standard element of everyday clothing. There was also an aesthetic element. Some collArs helped frame the face. Collars also added structure to a garment as well as protection fom he weather to the neck. This was especially helpful during cold winter weather. r

The 18th Century

Boys at the beginning of the 18th Century wore the same lacey jabot that theie fathers wore. Actual specialized children's clothes only began to appear in the late 19th Century. One of these fashions was an open ruffled collar. Adults wore ruffled collars, but not open ruffled collars like boys, especially open collars. Collars tended toe the most visible part of a shirts which were still primarily worn as undergarments, at least in public. The collar was weat theshier came in the greatest anf tighest contact with skin. And as aesult this was wear the greatest dirt, sweat, and grime collected. The coillar got dirty before the rest of the shirt. This may nt seem as a great ptoblem to our modern lft syles with washing machines and laundry detergents. But neither existed in he 18th century. Laundry involved hard, backbreaking work. So much so that an etire day of the week wasset aided for doing the laundry. Water had to be boiled, abd then there was washboards requiing hard physical labor. Washing an entire shirt just to clean the collar seemed wasteful.

Figure 1.--Many classic boys collars were worn in the mid-19th Century, but they were generally much smaller than those worn later in the century. These boys wear an Eton and a ruffled collar. These differences in collars, notice the outfits are identical, were commonly used to indicate age differences.

The 19th Century

We notice quite a range of different collar styles in the 19th century. Our information on the early 19th century is limited. We note open-neck and collar-buttoning styles. There were collars on bloses and shirts as well as detachable collars. The large, fancy collars would mostly worn by younger boys and were often used in age grading. But i the 1800s-2-s we see adultsearing large fancy colles as well. Boys at the beginning of the Century still wore open ruffled collars, often with skeleton suits. Gradually other styles appeared, such as wide white collars. The fashion of wearing collars closed became more prevalent after the 1820s. An American housewife invented the detachable collar in 1827 and by mid-century it had become widely dopted by middle-class Americans and Eurpeans wearing white shirts. Laundry was a daunting undertaking at the time. And the collar was the part of the shirt that got the dirties fastest. So the detchabl collar mean that people could wear shirts longer by meerly changing the collar. We know quite a bit about the mid- and late-19th century. With the advent of the CDV we have ahuge record of 1860s fashions. Some boys' collars were so small that they could barely be seen. We see some of the basic collar styles at mid-century, but in the 1860s they tend to be very small, although this varied from country to country. The Eton-styled collars wotn by American boys, for example, tended to be very small. We see larger collars in England. The popularity of cut-away jackets provided more information. Some boys' collars were so small that they could barely be seen. We see some of the basic collar styles at mid-century, but they tend to be very small. Others were normous. We also notice very plain collars as well as extremely fancy ones with lace and ruffles. We note open-neck and collar-buttoning styles. There were collars on bloses and shirts as well as detachable collars. The large, fancy collars were mostly worn by younger boys and were often used in age grading.

The 20th Century

Lace collars became less prevalent after the turn of the century, but ruffled collars became more common. Wide white collars were worn with Buster Brown suits. The Peter Pan collar became popular for young boys while older ones continued wearing Eton collars until after Worldwar I the 1920s when they were increasingly repalaced by soft collars. No major developments occured with boys' collars during the mid-20th Century. Eton collars rapidly declined in popularity, but did not wntirely disappear until the 1950s. And even a juvenile version was worn by younger boys with Eton suits. Younger boys might also wear Peter Pan collars. The preppy look became wide spread in the 1950s and button-down collars became popular. No major developments ocuurred in the late 20th Century. Peter Pan collars became less common for little boys. Buttons downs continued to be popular. Very large pointed collars were briefly popular in the 1970s. Button-down collars were popular, but no longer just a preppy style.

The 21st Century

Navigate the Historic Boys' Clothing Web chronological pages:
[The 16th Century] [Early 1800s] [The 1870s] [The 1880s] [The 1890s]
[The 1900s] [The 1910s] [The 1920s] [The 1930s] [The 1940s] [The 1950s] [The 1960s] [The 1970s] [The 1980s]

Navigate the Historic Boys' Clothing Web style pages:
[Dresses] [Smocks] [Bows] [Bodice kilts] [Kilts] [Sailor suits]
[Eton suits] [Blouses] [Ring bearer/page costumes] [Fauntleroy suits]

Created: 1:44 AM 1/4/2007
Last updated: 2:51 AM 1/6/2026