**
United States American kilt suits garments vests options
Figure 1.--This cabinet card portrait shows an unisentified boyh a smartly dress in a kilted suit done in a rather loud fsbric. Muted patterns were more common. The suit has double piting ans a pleated skirt. Notice the collar buttoning vest done in a matching pattern. He has an Eton collar and small floppy boe, A soft hat is on the faux fence rail.floor. The boy liijs ti be about 5 years old. The moont suggsts the portrait was taken in the 1890s. The studio was Service in Bridgeton, New Jersey.
American Kilt Suits: Vest Options
Many kilt suits were worn with vests or waistcoats for our British readers. The vest was an optional garment. Some boys wore blouses without vests, but vests were very common. We know less about the vests as they were normally covered by the jacket. The vests could be matching or contrasting material. We know that contrasting vests were less common. We also see a variety of cuts or styles. The construction of the vests is often difficult to ascertain because the vests are usually covered by the jackets, but we often can see the front of the vest. The buttons extended from the waist to the collar. The number of buttons varied. Most vests buttoned at the collar while others had 'V' front, in some cases with lapels. As best we can tell, most of the the vests were the collar-buttoning style garments. Boys at the time did not wear neckties, thus most vests did not have V-front cuts. At mid-19th century contrasting vests predominated, but by the 1870s when kilt suits became popular, matching vests seem almost universal. Some vests had a front waist notch while others were cut straight along the bottom hem. We do note a few vests done like cut-away jackets. We are not sure how the back was done as the photographic record only shows the front of the vest. We note one vest in hemi-60s that does not seem to have front buttons, but just a broad swath of material. This was not very common.
