Figure 1.--Here we see an American boy in 1918 wearing a tunic suit. The flag with 48 stars confirms it was a 1910s portrait. The unidentified boy looks to be about 4 years old. America's entry into World War I resulted in an outburst of patriotic feeling. This is a good example of it.

We see many boys who look to be about 4 years old wearing tunic suits. It was one of the most popular ages for tunic suits. Most catalog offerings included 4 year olds in the size range. Both the photographic record and store catalogs show that 4 year olds commonly wore tunic suits. It was a very common style for 4 year olds during the early 20th century. Even in the early 20s when tunic suits were no lnger being offerd for school sge boys, we still see them being made for 4 year olds. The studio portraits mostly show boys wearing more formal tunics. Snap shots tend to boys wearing more play styles. Many boys at age 4 might have wirn dresses in the 19th century. This was less common after the turn-of-the 20th century. Tunics seved as a kind of transitionsal garment. Thus they were widely worn by 4-year old. We see an unidentified boy wearing play suit. We notice 4-year old Martin Murphy in 1912 wearing a sailot tunic for play, but it could have also been worn for smart casual wear as well. We see them being done in many different styles. A good example is period catalogs the Montgomery Ward Catalog in 1914. The Sears 1902 catalog shows a boy about 4 years old in a dark winter tunic suit. And another McCalls tunic suit for 4 year olds done with sailor styling. We note a McCall's pattern for a sailor tunic suit, called a Russian suit, size 4 years. We note an unidentified newspaper advertisement for a sailor tunic suit in 1907. It referred to bloomer suits and offered a wide range of fancy and plain suits in the standard size range of 2 to 8 years. Sruarts in 1914 offered tunic suits they called a romper suit only in sizes to age 4. Stuarts in 1915 also offered outfits which more correctly might be called rompers, but showing tunic suit styling such as ornamental belts. They were akso done in the 2-4 year age range. Best in 1918 offered a wide selection of juvenile outfits, including tunic suits, but mostly with knee pants rather than bloomer knickers. They were done to size 4. Here we see an American boy in 1918 wearing a tunic suit (figure 1). The flag with 48n stars confirms that it was a 1910s portrait. The unidentified boy looks to be about 4 years old. America's entry into World War I resulted in an outburst of patriotic feeling. We continue to see boys wearing tunic suits in the 1920s, but the popularity was rapidly going out of style. Altmams in 1921 was still offering tunic suits in 1921, but the more popular button-on Oliver Twist style dominated the offerings for younger boys. The sizes here look to be 2-4 years. We see far fewer examples in family snapshots and portraits in the 1920s.

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Created: 9:00 PM 7/6/2008
Last edited: 11:47 PM 7/15/2011