Little Lord Fauntleroy Suits: Age 13 Years

Figure 1.-- -This cabinet card shows an unidentified boy wearing a classic Little Lord Fauntleroy velvet cut-away jacket Fauntleroy suit, fancy Fauntleroy blouce, and large white floppy bow. The only difference from the classic Fauntleroy suit is that the jacket is long and not short. He also had shoulder-length ringlets. The flat cap seems incongruous, but we see Fauntleroy suits being worn with a wide range of headwear and not just the wide-brimmed hats often associated with the Fauntleroy suit. The only information on the back is the date--1898. We would guess that the boy is about 13 years old.

We even note 13 year olds wearing Fauntleroy suits--but this was not very common. Boys this age did not normally wear Fauntleroy suits. But we have found some examples. We believe that boys involved primarily came from well-to-do families and were being raised nd tutored at home with only limited contct with other boys. We have noted some examples in the historical record, such as the heir to the Jognson and Johnson fortune. Robert Wood Johnson founded Johnson & Johnson, one of America's great corportatins (1886). That was a year after Ms. Burnett published her book. the company became a phreceutical and health care gint. One author writes that he also cursed his descendants with billions of dollars and years of family infighting. His son was Robert Wood Johnson II (1893-1968). We notice two Chicago boys who look to be 12-13 years old outfitted in Faunteroy outfits about 1890. The boys wear velvet suits, floppy bows, and lace collars, apparently for some kind of recital. What we do not know is to what extent they wore such fancy clothes when not involved in special occassions where they performed. We notice another unidentified boy wearing a classic Fauntleroy suit and ringlet curls in 1898. While few 13 year olds wore the classic Fauntleroy suit with cut-away jackets. Much more common were Fauntleroy items like ruffled collars and floppy bows added to regular suits. Noteably fancy blouses with a Fauntlery look were made in the 1890s to age 13 years. A good example are Wards blouses. Most of the blouses had large collars, but not the classic Fauntleroy blouses with large ruggled collars. Some boys may have worn blouses with large collars after age 13, but it was not very common. We are woring on age trends for boys with Fauntleroy suits and ringlet curls.

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Created: 4:36 AM 6/23/2008
Last updated: 4:36 AM 6/23/2008