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Many skirted garments were worn by both boys and girls. Kilt suits were, however, only for boys. The kilt suit was a very popular boys' outfit in the late-19th century, especially for American boys. Highland kilt outfits were worn, butt were not very common. Kilt suits were much more common which is one reason why we see so many boys wearing them with ringlet curls. Hair styles actually varied from short hair to long ringlet curls. Some mothers cut their sons hair while he was still wearing dresses and kilts, but others boys continued wearing curls even after breeching. Not all boys with long hair wore it in ringlets, but after the publication of Little Lord Fauntleroy in 1885, ringlets became very popular for boys in America. Most boys we see wearing kilt suits have short hair, but quite a number have ringlets.
It is difficult to tell the relative importance of the different styles, except from the proprtion of each in the photographic record, but there are some statistical problems here. It is likely that the importance of certain hair styles may have been different than the population as a whole. Kilt suits were a garment most popular among affluent and middle-class families. The same of course is the case with ringlet curls. The kilt suit was a major style for pre-school boys. The number of boys wearing kilt suits is a factor in the number of images showing boys wearing ringlets with them. Some boys even wore kilt suots after they began school, although not to school. Quite a few of the images we have found of boys wearing ringlets show them wearing kilt suits rather than Fauntleroy suits. Amd unlike dresses, we can be sure the child is a boy if he is wearing a kilt suit. Girls wore dresses and not kilt suits. We begin to see kilt suits in the 1870s and they are much less common after the turn-of-the 20th century. This is very close to the time time frame that ringlets were popular for boys. And with kilt suits we do not have the difficulty with gender identification because girls did not wear them.
We see boys wearing kilt suits with many different hair styles. Here age was a factor as it was for the kilt suit. We see boys wearing various hair styles in short, medium, and long lengths. But because for the most part kilt suits were worn by pre-school boys we see the hair styles woen by younger boys. This included longer styles such as ringlet curls.
Most American boys wore ringlet curls with short hair, but there werw many diffwrent styles of short hair. Short styles became standard for Amerucan boys in the 1880s, although you still see boys with hair down to their ears in the early 1870s ehen kilt suits began to become popular. As with short hair, we do not see many boys with closed cropped hair like we see in many European countries.
Kilt suits were much more common which is one reason why we see so many boys wearing them with ringlet curls. Hair styles actually varied from short hair to long ringlet curls. Some mothers cut their sons hair while he was still wearing dresses and kilts, but others boys continued wearing curls even after breeching. Not all boys with long hair wore it in ringlets, but after the publication of Little Lord Fauntleroy in 1885, ringlets became very popular for boys in America. Ringlets were mot as common in Europe. Most boys we see wearing kilt suits have short hair, but quite a number have ringlets. It is difficult to tell the relative importance of the different styles, except from the proprtion of each in the photographic record, but there are some statistical problems here. It is likely that the relative importance of certain hair styles may have been different than the population as a whole. Kilt suits were a garment most popular among affluent and middle-class families. The same of course is the case with ringlet curls. The kilt suit was a major style for pre-school boys. The number of boys wearing kilt suits is a factor in the number of images showing boys wearing ringlets with them. Some boys even wore kilt suits after they began school, although not to school. Quite a few of the images we have found of boys wearing ringlets show them wearing kilt suits rather than Fauntleroy suits. Amd unlike dresses, we can be sure the child is a boy if he is wearing a kilt suit. Girls wore dresses and not kilt suits. We begin to see kilt suits in the 1870s and they are much less common after the turn-of-the 20th century. This is very close to the time time frame that ringlets were popular for boys. And with kilt suits we do not have the difficulty with gender identification because girls did not wear them.
We see boys with kilt suits wearing a wide range of hair styles. Age was a factor in the choice of hair styling. As wih Fauntleroy suits, most boys wearing kilt suits had short hair. This could be done in different ways depending on the boy's hair and mothers fashion proclivities. Some mothers liked to do bangs. Given the chronological period that kilt suits were popular (late-19th century) and the age of the boys wearing kilt suits (mostly pre-school boys) one of the many hair styles was ringlet curls. Along with Fauntleroy suits which appeared after kilt suiys had become populat, the kiltsuit waa one of the more common outfits for boys whose hair was done in ringlets. We see this through about age 6 years when most boys began school. By this age we see far fewer boys wearing both kilt suits and with ringlets. There cintinue to ve a fe, but the prevlence is significantly reduced. The most common age for kilt suits and ringlets is about 3 to 5 years of age. The younger age i because really young boys may not have enough hair for ringlets. The older age is because boys as they approched school age, if not before, were commonly breeched and had their curls cut.
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 the saga of Dr. Jason Arday at Cambridge University. (Notable because Cambridge is generally seen as at the pinnacle of Western scholarship.) Mow real problems certainly existed. The simple fact is, however, that workers and family farmers were better off in America than any other country. This is born out by America's phenomenal economic access 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 lte-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 ringlet. This was not the major hair style worn with kilt suits, but we do see quite a number of examples.
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