Figure 1.--These two unidentified American boys are surely brothers. They look to be about 6-10 years of age. The younger boy wears a checked sailor tunic suit with a floppy bow rather than a sailor sarve. His older brother wears a double-breasted knickers suit with an Eton collar and tie. Both boys wear long stockings. Notice the length of the tunic. This and his brothers knickers date the portrait to the 1910s. Notice the length of the tunic. You can see the boys pant, or at least some of them. A longer length was more common. This suggests to us that the portrait was taken in the late-1910s. Some tunics were ever shorter.
We notice tunics in many different lengths. There were short tunics that fell just below the waistline and longer tunics that fell well below the knees to calf level. Tunics cut at knee level were by far the most common length during the more than a cenury-long period that tunics were an important boys' style. Many of the tunics we have noted were cut at or just above the knee. Tunic length primarily varied chronologically. We are not sure about the early-19th centurty. A few images suggest that they could be quite long. By the mid-19th century and the advent of photography we know a great deal. Tunics at mid-century cold be short, but we see boys wearing garments looking more like shirts than tunics. Actual short-cut tunic suits were the rarest length. Then by the 1860s a kind of standard length appeared, about knee-legth, but we some longer tunics. This was not common in the early-20th century hen there was a kind of tunic revival, the ear actiually that tunics were the most popular. Almost all were cut at knee level. We do not see many shorter tunics until the late-1910s when tunics had begun going out of style.
We do not notice any short tunics in the early-19th centurry. Our archive, however, is very limited, a few paintings. So we are not yet positive about length conventions. With the development of photography at mid-century we have much more infomation. They seem to be shorter than those we have noticed arly in the century. Some look rather like shirts and buttoned up the font. We see a lot of these tunics at mid-century in available Dags which were much more common in America than Europe. We see relatively few true tunics. Nor do we see tunic suits meaning mtching tunics tops and pants bottoms. We do not notice matching pants which we did see in Europe. Our archive is still relatively limited so we are just beginning our assessment here. We have seen fashion plates with fancy styles, but they are not commonly represented in the photographic record nor do we see short-cut tunics. We do not notice the short-cut tunics again until the 1910s, primarily the late-10s by which time tunics were going out of style. Styliticlly it made a big difference. Tinics at lnee-length mean that the pants could not be seen to any extent, only a small bit at the knee. With short tunics, the boys pants come more into the picture and can be seen in detail.
Knee-length Tunics
Many of the tunics we have noted were cut at or just above the knee. They were done in many different styles, but the length was very common. Tunics cut at knee level were by far the most common length during the more than a cenury-long period that tunics were an important boys' style. Many of the tunics we have noted were cut at or just above the knee. Tunic length primarily varied chronologically. We are not sure about the early-19th centurty. A few images suggest that they could be quite long, but our information on the early-19th century is very limited. By the mid-19th century and the advent of photography we know a great deal, at least in America. Tunics at mid-century cold be short, but we have seen American boys wearing garments looking more like shirts than tunics. We do not see tunic suits to any extent in the plentiful American mid-century European Dags and Ambros. So we are not at ll sure how common tunics were in Europe or the length of tunics at the time. Even though photography was invented in Euroope, we have found very few Europeans Dags and Ambros. Thus we are not sure anout lengths at the time. We do have detailed ingormation once the CDV became popular in the 1860s. As best we can tell, a kind of standard lenngth appeared, about knee-legth. We see some longer tunics in Europe, but have not yet found examples in the very substntial American photographic record. This same length continued into the early-20th century when there was a kind of tunic revival in both metrica and Europe. The was actually the period in which tunics were the most popular. Almost all the tunics we see during this period were cut at knee level. We do not see many shorter tunics until the late-1910s when tunics had begun going out of style.
Long Tunics
American boys commonly wore tunics throughout the 19th century and early 20th century. Unfortunately we do not have much information on the styling of the tunics worn during the early-19th century even in Europe and next to nothing on America. There seem to have been some logish tunics worn blow knee level at calf level durung the early-19th century. . They were commonly worn with long pants. We do know if the pants commonly matched the tunic, but we have seen examples where they did. We know much more about styles once photography was invented and studios began to open up in America (1940s). We have not yet, howeve, fojnd American examples of long-cut tuunics. We suspect that there were some, but we have not yet fond any examples in the very ample photographic record and we have an extensive American archive. We believe it safe to say that long lengths were not common, even though w have sen boys wearing long dresses and long-cut kilt suits.
