Little Lord Fauntleroy Suits: 11 Year Olds--Suit Types

Figure 1.-- On the whole at age 11 classic Fauntleroy suits were rare. One of those rare eanples was an unidentified Chicago boy. The boy here is unanmed, but he is ientified as an 11-year-old. He wears a cut-away velvet jacket, but his Fauntleroy jacket and floppy bow are smaller than that wiorn by the younger boys. The photographer was Vahlteich". Lena Vahlteich was a lady. Most pgiotigraphers were men. She was born in Germany (1862). She immigrated to the United States (1881). She is listed in the 1900 census as a photographer in the 22nd Ward, City of Chicago. This and the mount style dates from the porrait to the early-1890s. This style mount (serrated mount edges with plain corners) date from 1888-96.

There are two kinds of Fauntleroy suits that we see these older boys wearing. There were the classic Fauntleroy cut-away jacket suits mostly worn by yonger boys, but most of what we see are regular suits worn with Fauntleroy collars and floppy bows. We do note some boys of 11-12 years of age wearing classic Fauntleroy suits, but they are not very common even during the peak of the Fauntleroy craze. We suspect that even in the late-19th century, boys at about age 11 would have complained at that. Some especially fashion conscious mothers may have insisted. Or only brought out the Fauntleroy suits for especially formal occasions. We see sone, but not very many. On the whole at age 11 classic Fauntleroy suits were rare. One of those rare eanples was an unidentified Chicago boy. The photographer was Vahlteich". Lena Vahlteich was a lady. Most pgiotigraphers were men. She was born in Germany (1862). She immigrated to the United States (1881). She is listed in the 1900 census as a photographer in the 22nd Ward, City of Chicago. This and the mount style dates from the porrait to the early-1890s. This style mount (serrated mount edges with plain corners) date from 1888-96. While the boy is unanmed, he is ientified as an 11-year-old (figure 1). What we mostly see with 11-year olds is boys wearing more mature lapel suits, but with Fauntleroy touches such as an large ruffled collars and even even wrist cuffs along with floppy bows. These items were usualy toned down versions of what the younger boys wore. The Ohio boy on yhe previous page is a good example although he does not have the Fauntleroy cuffs. Fancy cuffs were not as common as the large collars. We are not sure if the boys are wearing Faunleroy blouses oir pin on collars. Outfits like this were fairly common for America boys at age 11 in the 1880s and 90s, but less so by the end of the 1900s. These outfits had the advantage that mother could just remove the fancy collar and the boy could wear the suit for another year or two. And they could be worn for special occasions. The suits involved were not fancy velvet suits, but were usually dark suits without loud patterns. While this was what we usually see. There were some boys that got the full Fauntleroy treatment even at age 11 years, although the collars and floppy bows were usually not quite as large as what the younger boys wore.

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Created: 12:27 AM 10/1/2023
Last updated: 12:27 AM 10/1/2023