Figure 1.--American boys almost wore kilt suits with black or very dark long stockings, although this boy appears to have lighter-colored stockings than seen in most such portraits. A HBC reader has noted various details about the boy's clothes and suggested that this portrait be assessed in detail. Click on the image for a detailed discussion.

A less formal approach was to wear the kiltskirt with the popular middy blouse. While it is difficult to tell that the boy here wears a middy blouse, the back flap does suggest thast he is. While this might be suitable for everyday wear, a lace collar could be added for more formal occassions. HBC is unsure about the conventions involved here. We suspect that this outfit may have been a way of wearing a kilt suit for less formal occasions. What confuses us here is that you would have thought that for a studio portrait, a boy would have presumably been dressed up in his best outfit. Another possibility is that it was to hot a day for the jacket, but the boy's middy blouse also looks heavy. We wonder if perhaps this was the boy's best outfit. Perhaps the mpther did not by the jacket, either because she was thrifty or perhaps the family was not very affluent.