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We have fewer cuountry pages for shirt-like garments than for many other garments, but HBC is constantly expanding. Our initial assessment is that there were fewer country differences than was the case for many other garments. We are unable to make assessments for the 19th century as boys wear jackets and vests in most of the available images. Here often all we can see is the collars. Here the most notable shirt collar is the Eton collar created in England and adopted in many other countries. But no where was the Eton collar as popular as in England. The English also created the sailor collar, a style which became even more popular in some other countries. The Fauntleroy collar is also notble and could be quite large and was especially popular in America. After the turn-of-the 20th century, especially after World War I we see much more of the shirts. Blouses were still popular in the early-20th century. French boys commonly wore blouses and Peter Pan collars. We note American boys wearing Western-styled shirts in the mid-20th century. Button-down shirts seem more popular in America than other countries. And America help popularize the 'T' shirt. We mote German boys wearing plaid shirts after World War II. In the late-20th century we see a kind of Pan-European styles erasing any country differences.
American boys have worn wide range of shirts and collars. There were many different types of shirt-like garments. Boys wore blouses, shirts, and shirt waists with different collars. Shirts often taken on the names of their collars as they are the most prominant shirt feature. There are, however, other features, such as the front and buttons, sleeves, and bottom features (such as tails or blouse string). Some of these features are not often visible to the camera. We do not have much informattion on the early 19th centurty. Boys in the mid-19th century tended to have had very small collars. The collars in many instances were so small that they are difficult to identify. Collars increased in size by the late 19th century. There were various styles. Younger boys in the late-19th century might wear lace collars. We also note plainer Eton and Peter Pan collars, although that term was not yet used. By the turn of the 20th century, ruffled collars becamme more common. A good example here is a boy in Washington, Pennsylvania about 1905. Many school age boys in the late 19th and early 20th century wore Eton collars when dressing up. By the 1950s preppy styles were popular, Many boys wore shirts with button-down collars. Collarless "T" shirts became increasing popular in the latter patof the 20th century. One reader writes in 2006, "I have great difficulty getting my son who is in 5th grade to dress up. He doesn't even like collared shirts and insists on wearing T-shirts to school because of peer presure. He tells me, 'Mom the other guys don't wear those shirts."
We do not yet have much information on Belgian shirts and blouses. Our 19th century Belgian archive is very limited. And most 19th century portraits show boys wearing suits and vests which means we can see very little of the blouses and shirts that they are wearing. This severly limits are ability to collect information on-shirt-like garment during the century. Most of what we have found is views of the collars which in many cases were detachable collars. We see some Eton collars, but they do not seem to be as large or the standardized pointed style that we see in England. We have more information on the 20th entury, especilly after World Wwar I as boys more coonly wore shirts without jackets and of course photigraophy moved beyound the photographic studio. Shirts with military styling appear to have been worn in the early-1950s. The image on the previous page is a good example.
American boys have worn wide range of shirts and collars. There were many different types of shirt-like garments. Boys wore blouses, shirts, and shirt waists with different collars. Shirts often taken on the names of their collars as they are the most prominant shirt feature. There are, however, other features, such as the front and buttons, sleeves, and bottom features (such as tails or blouse string). Some of these features are not often visible to the camera. We do not have much informattion on the early 19th centurty. Boys in the mid-19th century tended to have had very small collars. The collars in many instances were so small that they are difficult to identify. Collars increased in size by the late 19th century. There were various styles. Younger boys in the late-19th century might wear lace collars. We also note plainer Eton and Peter Pan collars, although that term was not yet used. By the turn of the 20th century, ruffled collars becamme more common. A good example here is a boy in Washington, Pennsylvania about 1905. Many school age boys in the late 19th and early 20th century wore Eton collars when dressing up. By the 1950s preppy styles were popular, Many boys wore shirts with button-down collars. Collarless "T" shirts became increasing popular in the latter patof the 20th century. One reader writes in 2006, "I have great difficulty getting my son who is in 5th grade to dress up. He doesn't even like collared shirts and insists on wearing T-shirts to school because of peer presure. He tells me, 'Mom the other guys don't wear those shirts."
We have not yet been able to develope information on French shirts and shirt-like garments. We note a range of different garments and styles. Our information on the 19th century is especially limited. We do have information on the blouses worn by younger boys. Younger boys for formal occasions might wear suspender romper bottoms or suspender shorts with a fancy blouse. There were also button-styles. As girls mostly wore dresses, these fancy blouses were worn by boys. Fancy blouses for formal occassions were very popular through the 1960s, but since the 1970s have declined in importance. They were commonly made in sizes to about age 7, but some older boys also wore them. Today blouses are mostly worn by girls. We have also some done some work on collars. There were quite a range of different styles. French boys wore Eton collars, but not as commonly as in England. We also note Peter Pan collars, but believe this collar was more common on blouses as well as other garments like rompers and smocks.
We note German boys wearing the same basic shirt styles as worn by boys in other European countries. We do not know of any destinctive German shirt styles. The main variation is that some styles were more or less popular in Germany than other styles. We notice a variety of detachable collars, but the Eton was not nearly as popular as in England. I'm not sure why. Perhaps it was uncomfortable or perceived as too English. Sailor middy blouses were especially popular for German boys. We notice sailor middy blouses with a wide variety of collar styles. Other countries also had middy blouses in non-traditional styles, but there appears to have been an especially large variety of collar styles. Boys in the eealy 20th century often wore wore stiff detachable collars when dressing up. After World War I (1914-18) motr casuals styles prevailed, including a style of wide open collars. Boys during the NAZI era (1933-45) wore the military styled shirt of the Hitler Youth. This military enfluence, however, does not seem to have acrried over in other shirt styles. during the Colorful shirts such as checks became popular for school after World War II (1939-45). We have not noticed German boys extensively wearing button-down shirts. "T" shirts also became very popular after World War II.
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