Figure 1.--This unidentified boy wears what we first thought was a plaid dress, bur we think us a kilt although ghis is difficult to be sure. The he outfit is done in a bold plaid. The portrait was a tin-type. This format was declining in popularity but still produced. We believe the portrait was taken about 1890.

We also note note some bold, bright plaids like the Chicago boy's Fauntleroy suit here (figure 1). This was not the principal option, but we have found some examples. The muted plaids and flat material, however, were much more common. Some of the bold patterns are striking, really eye-popping. Bolder than other suit patterns. And some mothers even added striped stockings to the panoply of gdometric shapes. This was especiallay commin in the 1870s. Some of the plaid patterns were so muted that they appear to be dark solid patterns in the portraits. These dark muted ptterns would only show in a closeup of the suit. They stand in shasrp contrast to the bold patterns we have fouund. A good example is a Pennsylvania boy, we think in the 1880s.

Created: 3:47 AM 1/21/2021
Last updated: 3:47 AM 1/21/2021