American Little Lord Fauntleroy Suits: Hair Style Age Trends

Figure 1.--The boy here is decribed as Grandfather Harold, but we don't know his last name. He wears his Fauntlerioy suit with ringlet curls. He looks to be about 5-6 years old. He was born in 1892 which would date this cabinet card portrait to 1897-98. The mount style is one of the new style mounts that we see at the turn of the century. We are not sure precisely when these mounts appeared. Most date from about 1900. It is possible a few apoeared a little earlier or the cabinent card was produced a few yeas after the portrait was taken. The studio was Baumgarten in Tomali, Wisconsin. Curls like those Harold has were often kept as keep sakes whrn his hair was finally cut short. Click on the image to see one of Harold's curls kept as a keepsake.

Age affected both when a boy's curls were cut as well as the age of wearing Fauntleroy suits. Most boys had their curls cut at about age 3-4 years. Social class factors were involved here. Working-class boys were likely to have their curls cut earlier if they had them at all. Thus the great majority of photographic portraits of boys wearing fancy hair styles The age range for Fauntleroy suits was a little different. They were quite popular for boys throughh ages 4-5 years. Boys did not wear Faumtleroy suits to scholl when they began at age 6 years. Some boys did not attend school or might have a Fauntleroy suit for best wear. Both hair stuyles and clothing was lrgely at the mother whim if thefamily was affluent enough to endulge in fashionable dress andthe rising affluence of the United states meant that many mothers were. And as relatively few women of means wiorked, they had aood deal of gime on their hands. These trends meant that most boys above the age of 4 years wore Fauntleroy suits with short hair. And the older they git the more likely rhey were to have short hair and the less likely to wear Fauntleroy suits. This leads to a complication. After age 6 years, Fauntleroy suits were less and less common. Any the same mothers who insisted that older boys wear Fauntleroy suits wee probanly the same to whom ringlet curls appealed. Thus boys older boys wearing Fauntleroy suits were probably more likely than the averahe boy to wear ringlet curls.

Age 3 Years

There are large numbers of bpus archived in HBC wearing Fauntleroy suits at age 3 years. This includes quite a number of boys with ringlet curls. A good example is Charles E. Lamson about 1903. He wears a Fauntleroy blouse.

Age 4 Years

Age 5 Years

The boy here is decribed as Grandfather Harold, but we don't know his last name (figure 1). He wears his Fauntlerioy suit with ringlet curls. He looks to be about 5-6 years old. He was born in 1892 which would date this cabinet card portrait to 1897-98.

Age 6 Years

Age 6 was a major turning point for Fauntleroy suits and ringle curls. This was the age Neither were worn to school, especially the combintion. We simply do not see the combination or even boys wearing ringlets with other outfits in the photographic record. And by the 1890s at the height of the Fauntleroy craze, the schhol portrait hasbecome a well esablished tradution. And we do not see see boys wearing ringlet curls in school portraits during the decade. We do see some Fauntleroy elemet sych as fancy collrs ans large bow, but we rearely see actual Fauntleroy suits and never note ringlet curls.

Age 13 Years

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Created: 11:06 AM 7/4/2012
Last updated: 11:06 AM 7/4/2012