Figure 1.--This cased Ambrotype portrait shows an unidentified American mother or perhaps grandmother in black mourning dress with her two boys outfitted in Scottish outfits, kilt suits. This is one of the ealiest kiltsuit images we have found. The boys look to be about 3-6 years old. They wear identical kiltsuits, the only difference is that the older boys has a spran. While the outfits are kilt suit, we note some Highland item, a sporran and Argyle hosiery. Ambrotypes appeared about 1855 and mostly date tp the second half of the decade, although they were still fairly common in the very early-60s.
We do not notice many kilt suits in the Daguerreotypes and Ambrotypes from the 1850s. We have a fairly large collection of these images. And we believe we would have noticed it these garments were very common. That of course is not to day that they did not exist. Although we do note a few boys wearing what look like plaid tunics or long shirts, especially in the 1850s. It is not always precisely clear what the boys in these early portraits were wearing. Many are torso portraits with the garment below the waist not clearly shown. We have found very few Higland kilt kilt suit images in America during the 50s, but there are a few showing that at least a few boys were wearing them. It is not entirely clear if it was a Scottish or English influence. The British Royal family began drssing the princes in kilts during the 1840s and this had a huge impact on boys' fashions, even in America.
