Figure 1.--This unidentified American boy looks to be weating a black kilt suit. The Fauntleroy kilt suits were often done in black. This is not a Fauntleroy kiltuit, but ir dos hav large white collars with lace edging. The portrait is not dated, but looks like the 1900s, the last decade kiltsuits were worn..

Colors and patterns are another interesting topic. The kilts worn by American boys were usually either plain colors or muted plaids. Colors are of course difficult to assess given the black and white photography of the day. We suspect thazt the colors may have mirrored the colors in which conteporary suits were done, but this needs to be confirmed. This would mean primarily colors like blue, brown, grey, and perhaps green. There were also black kilts, primrily the ones worn with Fauntleroy kilt suits and of course Highlnd outfits. We rarely see them with the much more popular regularkilt suits. We see the colored kilts done in both dark and light tones. We see large numbers of both dark and light suits. We even see a few white kilts, but they were not very common at all. We note both flat colors and patterns. This is not always readily apparent unless we have a high-quality image. Quite a few of these kilts were done in patterns, but brightly colored Highland tartans are rare. We do see a few, especially as part of Funtleroy kilt suiits. The patterns we note tend to be much more muted. Many are like the suits boys wore, but we do not see the very bold patterns sometimes worn with suits. For some reason, these do not seem to have been viewed as suitable by mothers.

Colors

Colors and patterns are another interesting topic. The kilts worn by American boys were usually either plain colors or muted plaids. Colors are of course difficult to assess given the black and white photography of the day. We suspect thazt the colors may have mirrored the colors in which conteporary suits were done, but this needs to be confirmed. This would mean primarily colors like blue, brown, grey, and perhaps green. There were also black kilts, primrily the ones worn with Fauntleroy kilt suits and of course Highlnd outfits. We rarely see them with the much more popular regular kilt suits. We see the colored kilts done in both dark and light shades. We are not sure as to hich were more prevalent. We at first thought that the dark colors were the modt common, but as we have expanded our archive we see more and more light colors. There seem to be both light and dark colors, although we think that the lrger number of kilt suits were done in patterns. We even see a few white kilts, but they were not very common at all.

Black

There were also black kilts, primarily the ones worn with Fauntleroy kilt suits. Black cut-away jackets orregukar jackets might be worn with black kilts or Higland plaid kilts like the ones worn with Highland outfits. We rarely see them with the much more popular regular kilt suits. Fauntleroy suits were done dark blues, forrest green and maroon as well, often in velvet. We do not yet know if kiltsuits were also done in these colors.

Blue

We think that there were dark blue kiltsuits, but we cannot yet confirm his. While we can usually tell black abd white kilts, identifying colors om the photographic record is virtually impossible.

White

We even see a few white kilts, but they were not very common at all. While colors are virtually impossible to identify, we can usually identify white kilts. We might misidentify very light pastels, but we do not think that such light colors were common for boys. Thus we are fairly confident that the kilt suit outfits that look tgo be white in the photographic record ctually were white. The number of hilte kilts we have found are very small. We have not yet found complete white kilt suits. Boys might wear white blouses with white kilts instead of a white jacket. A white kiltsuit would have been for summer wear and of course for summer wear a blouse would do nicely. And of course mother might add a white floppy bow to complete an elegant touch. What we do not see is white long stockings with these white kilt outfits.

Patterns

We note both flat colors and patterns. This is not always readily apparent unless we have a high-quality image. Quite a few of these kilts were done in patterns. We think that the patterns were the most common kiltsuits. Some kilts that look like solid colors are actually muted plaids. Brightly colored Highland tartans so associated with kilts are rare. We do see a few, especially as part of Funtleroy kilt suiits. The patterns we note tend to be much more muted. Many are like the suits boys wore, but we do not see the very bold patterns sometimes worn with suits. For some reason, these do not seem to have been viewed as suitable by mothers. We note both dark and light patterns which to an extent were worn seasonally. The dark suits look to be done in heavier material than the light-colored suits. And were thus worn seasonally. Sone boys of course did not wear the jackets during the hot weather and just wore a blouse. As bold patterns were not common, making out the patterns is often difficult. We have seen a few checked patterns. We usoect that plaid patterns were very common, but not the bright Higland tartans with bright colors.

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Created: 3:13 AM 10/15/2012
Last updated: 3:14 AM 10/15/2012