Figure 1.--Here we see unidentified Baltimore twins, we thnk about 1890. They look to be about 4 years old. They are dressed differently, but have identical ringlet curls. Notice how mother has aeeanged he curls for best viewing. The boy wears kilt suit and he girl a white summer dress. The boy'sboter har ison display, but not orn becuse mother was so proud of his curls. We do not know what kind of hat his sister wore. Interesting we see a pug dog (probanly a figurine) which reminds us of the novie 'Ma href="/the/movie/fauntm-llf.html">Life with Father'. The studio was Nlessing & Co. in Baltimore.

We see large numbers of American boys wearing kilts suits in the photographic record. Much more so than any other country, including Britain where the style first appeared. The price of a photographic portrait had come down a great deal from when photography first appeared (1840s). By the late-19th century, most Americans could afford a photographic portrait if they wanted one. This was due to the decline in the price and the phenomenal economic expansion of he United States. American workers were the best paid in the world. And American farmers (still a major part of the population) mostly owned their own land and thus reaped the benefits of the crops they harvested. This was not the case in other countries around the world. The Marxist and Marxist-influenced historians professors who now dominate Western historiography and other disciplines like sociology dwell on the problems. Those who do not think that this is a problem need to read about Dr. Jason Arday at Cambridge University. (Notable because Cambridge is generally seen as at the pinnacle of Western scholarship). Now real problems certainly existed in America. The simple fact is, however, that workers and family farmers were better off in America than any other country arond the globe. This is born out by America's phenomenal economic success and the fact that so many European wanted in on that success and immigrated to the Unites States in massive waves. It also impacted fashions. Most Americans in the l late-19th century came from humble small-farm origins. Benefiting from the expanding capitalist economy and a fine public school system, they had built successful, prosperous lives. And proud mothers wanted to show off that success. That is one reason the Fauntleroy Craze was so pronounced in America as well as other fashions like kilt suits and ringlet curls for boys. It has to be understood, however, that the well to do and comfortable middle-class is over represents in the photographic record. They would have purchased more portraits than working-class Families. As far as we can tell, working class boys did not commonly wear kilt suits. Suits in general were a relatively expensive way to dress a little boy. We see quite a number of boys wearing these suits with ringlet curls. This was also a style not common with working-class children, especially boys. This was because the time and expense of doing a child's hair in ringlets. There was a lot of time and bother assocoated with hair curling. Best accomplished with mothers who did not have to work or had at least some paid help in the home. This was especially case wih boys who were not always enamored with the whole idea. Ringlet curls were not the major hair style worn with kilt suits, but we do see quite a number of examples.

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Created: 7:43 AM 9/6/2026
Last updated: 7:43 AM 9/5/2026