American Fauntleroy Blouses: Chronology--The 1900s

Figure 1.--This cabinetcard portrait shows an unisentifed boy wjo looks to be about 5 uyears old. He wears a verry elaborte Fauntlroy blouse with ruffles and lace trim. He is sitting on a small table wearing his Fauntleroy blouse with knee pants and long stockings and high-top lace-up shoes. The white blouse has very long ruffles around the neck and down the front and over the shoulders. There is a blind embossed rectangle around the photoand the mount has rounded corners. The new style mount dates the portrait to the very early-20th century. e mightvhacesaid about 1905, but the lace up shoes suggests a little later, perhaps about 1910. The studio is J.W. Rogers which is embossed on the bottom of the card in white from Bay City, Michigan.

Fancy Faunteleroy blousces cotinued to be poplar through the turn-of-the 20th century. We have noted some relly fancy ones in the 1900s decade. The Michigan boy here is a good example (figure 1). Major chnageds in boys' fashions were taking place. We are just beginning to assess this in detail. We see Fauntleroy suits declining in poularity at the turn of the century. The ritual of breeching for little boys was going out of style. was going out of style We also see fewer younger boys wearing dresses and kilt suits. And the examples we do still see were with increasingly younger boys. Fauntleroy blouses worn with out the classic cut-away jackets seemed to have persisted a little longer. This has proven a little tricky to follow in detail because so few cabinet cards and other portraits are dated, but we have begun to work on the chronoogy. The cabinet card mounts can help to date the portraits roughly, but not precisely. We definitely see very elaborate Fauntleroy blouses in the 1900s and older boys wearing less elaborte ones. A good example is Raymond J.D. Webb, probably about 1900. WE note the older boyswering the less elaborate blouses did so without suit jackets. They apper to be mostly seen durung the summer when boys were just wearing their blouses. They were also often patternd blouses. The blouses begin to decline notably in popularity after the 1900s decsade. We often begin to see simpler Fauntleroy blouses. A good example is Roy Swanson in the early-1900s. Another good example are two unidentified brothers. We also see less elaborate Fauntleroy blouses, often done in light-colored pattern. We still see some large collars, but often just with lacy trim and not elaborate ruffeled and lace collars.

Prevalence

Fancy Faunteleroy blousces cotinued to be poplar through the turn-of-the 20th century. We have noted some relly fancy ones in the 1900s decade. The Michigan boy here is a good example (figure 1).

Decade Changes

Major changes in boys' fashions were taking place. We are just beginning to assess this in detail. We see Fauntleroy suits declining in poularity at the turn of the century. The ritual of breeching for little boys was going out of style. was going out of style We also see fewer younger boys wearing dress and kilt suits. And the examplse we do still see were with increasingly yonger boys. Fauntleroy blouses worn with out the classic cut-away jackets seemed to have persisted a little longer. And entitely new outfit ewe begin seeing in the 1900s is tunic suiots with fancy collars.

Chronology

The chronology has proven a little tricky to follow in detail because so few cabinet cards and other portraits are dated, but we have begun to work on the chronology. The cabinet card mounts can help to date the portraits roughly, but not precisely. The blouses begin to decline notably in popularity after the 1900s decsade.

Blouse Styling

We definitely see very elaborate Fauntleroy blouses in the 1900s and older boys wearing less elborte ones. A good example is Raymond J.D. Webb, probably about 1900. We note the older boyswering the less elaborate blouses did so without suit jackets. They apper to be mostly seen durung the summer when boys were just wearing their blouses. They were also often patternd blouses. We often begin to see simpler Fauntleroy blouses. A good example is Roy Swanson in the early-1900s. Another good example are two unidentified brothers. We also see less elaborate Fauntleroy blouses, often done in light-colored pattern. We still see some large collars, but often just with lacy esging and not elaborate ruffeled and lace collars. They had sailor tyoe back flaps.

Ages

We see boys of quite a wide age range wearing Fauntleroy collars. This varied depending on the two different types of Fauntleroy blouses at the time. The fancy classic blouses were worn by boys anout 3-6 years of age, perhaps even 7 years depending on mothers fashion sences. They were not worn to school, but might be for dress up occassions. The less fancy patterned blouses were worn by school age boys to about 13-14 years of age. We see these mostly during the summer when boys were dressing up for church or other occasion. when suitjackets were not being worn.

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Created: 11:42 PM 1/10/2015
Last updated: 5:24 AM 5/13/2022