American Little Lord Fauntleroy Suit Headwear: Fezes


Figure 1.--The fez was not a major cap style in America, especially for boys. It was more of an indoor cap style worn by well-to-do men worn in their studies with smoking jackets. We do, however, see a few boys wearing them, often with Fauntleroy suits. This unidentified boy's cabinent card portrait was taken in Richmond, Virginia. Notice the studio scene is that of a study or drawing room.

The fez was not a major cap style in America, especially for boys. It was more of an indoor cap style worn by well-to-do men worn in their studies with smoking jackets. We do, however, see a few boys wearing them, often with Fauntleroy suits or Fauntleroy blouses. There was no headwear especially made for the Fauntleroy suit. The wide-brimmes sailor hat is probably the headwear most associated with the Fauntleroy suit, but only some of the boys wearing Funtleroy suits wore these hats. As best we can tell, mothers chose just just about every type of headwear except baby bonnets for their boys to wear with Fauntleroy suits. We are not sure just why that was, but it is clearly evident from the photogrphic record. We don't think there wa any other suit type woen with such a diverse vsriety of headwear. Fezes were notv a common chouce, but we do see a few examples in the photographic record. The boy here looks to be wearing a collar-buttoning suit with froging. His outfit only has Fauntleroy touches. We see a large white collar we think with lace edging. There is akso a ribbon bow. Other boys wearing fezes wore actual Funtleroy suits with cut-away jackets.

The Fez

he fez was a cap without a visor that was popular in the Middle East. They first appeared about the turn of the 19th cenury, presumably in Fez, Morocco. It was essentially a Middle-Eastern style. The fez was a kind of cylindrical form, but wider at the bottom than the top, rather like a truncated cone. It was felt and usually red. There was often a tassle for decorative purposes. While namwd after Fez, Morocco and worn in North Africa , it was most commonly worn in the Ottoman Empire (especially Turkey and Egypt). It was also worn by culturally Turkish peoples in central Asia. It was more of a man's style, but in the Middle East, there were no juvenile headwear styles as was the case in Europe. Eventually the fez was adopted by a few Europeans and Americans. This reflected an interested in the Middle East within Europe, also reflected in styles like the Zouave suits which were sometimes worn with fezes. Mostly European and American men wore the fez at home with smoking jackets. The fez was not a major cap style in America, especially for boys. It was more of an indoor cap style worn by well-to-do men worn in their studies with smoking jackets, but we have noted some boys wearing them.

Prevalence

We do see a few boys wearing fezes, often with Fauntleroy suits or Fauntleroy blouses, in the photographic record. There was no headwear especially made for the Fauntleroy suit. The wide-brimmes sailor hat is probably the headwear most associated with the Fauntleroy suit, but only some of the boys wearing Funtleroy suits wore these hats. As best we can tell, mothers chose just just about every type of headwear except baby bonnets for their boys to wear with Fauntleroy suits. We are not sure just why that was, but it is clearly evident from the photogrphic record. We don't think there was any other suit type worn with such a diverse variety of headwear. Fezes were not a common chouce, but we do see a few examples in the photographic record.

Ages

Most of the boys wearing fezes with Fauntleroy suits we have noted are younger boys. This probably reflects the age range of Fauntleroy suits. We do see some older boiys wearing fezes, but with regular suits that had Fauntleroy suits rather than a proper Fauntleroy suits.

Suit Types

We have found a few images of boys wearing fezes with different kinds of Fauntleroy suits. We note both proper Fauntleroy suits and regular suits with Fauntleroy touches. We note boys wearing actual Fauntleroy suits with cut-away jackets and fancy Fauntleroy blouses. In some cases we just see the fancy blouses without the jackets. The Fauntleroy suits and blouses seems to have been the most choice. But we do see some bous wearung fezes with other suit tyopes thar had Faiuntleroy touvches. The somewhat boy here looks to be wearing a collar-buttoning suit (figure 1). It is a knee pants suit with extensive froging repeaed on the pockets and pants. His outfit only has Fauntleroy touches. We see a large white collar we think with lace edging. There is akso a ribbon bow.







HBC






Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Fauntleroy related pages:
[Return to the Main U.S. Fauntleroy cap headwear page]
[Return to the Main U.S. Fauntleroy garment page]
[Return to the Classic Fauntleroy page]
[Fauntleroy dresses] [Lace collars] [Vivian Burnett] [Fauntleroy patterns] [Classic materials] [Classic hair styles] [Individual classic suits]



Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing other related pages:
[Cap style page] [Tams] [Sailor Caps] [Ringlet curls] [Hair bows] [Bangs]
[Dresses] [Breeching] [Kilts] [Bows] [Collars] [Blouses]
[Ring Bearers] [Jewlery]



Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Return to the Main U.S. fez page]
[Introduction] [Activities] [Biographies] [Chronology] [Clothing styles] [Countries]
[Bibliographies] [Contributions] [FAQs] [Glossaries] [Images] [Links] [Registration] [Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]





Created: 7:26 PM 8/22/2008
Last updated: 6:51 PM 12/6/2018