American Little Lord Fauntleroy Suits: Hair Style Chronological Trends

Figure 1.--This cabinet card portrair shows two fashionably dressed children holding hands, presumably siblings. They are Mary and Luca, at least as near as I can make out. (Clkick on the image if you want to try and make out the writing. They look to be about 5-10 years old. Both children have ringlet curls, but styled didderently. The girl has a high-waisted white dress with baloon sleeves. The boy wears a classic Fauntleroy suit. Thr portrait is undated, but the mount and fashions suggest the 1890s, pribably about 1895. The children are nicely posed and dressed, probanly from a family in comfortable circumstances. The photographer was P.S. Foreman's Photographic Studio, Buckhannon, West Virginia.

Little Lord Fauntleroy suits were worn over a relatively short period of time, essentially two decads. We see Fauntleroy suits most commonly in the photographic record during 1885-1905. The Fauntleroy Craze began in 1885 with the publication of Mrs. Burnett's book. We continue to see Fauntleroy suits after 1905, but they are much less prevalent after 1905. Over that time hair style did not change much with one exception. Although not mentioned in the book, ringlet curls for some reason became associated with Fauntleroy suits. Most boys wore Fauntleroy suits with short hair, the same styles we see being worn with other outfits. We see quite a few boys, however, with ringlet curls or other long hair styles. Ringlet curls were worn by American boys before 1885, but mostly younger boys and not very commonly. This was especually the case of the long shoulder-length ringlets. And after the Fauntleroy era the Fauntleroy hair style for boys rapidly disaapeard. It became rare in the 1910s and no longer seen by the 1920s--at least for boys. Of course this was not the case for girls. Thanks to Shirley Temple it was an enormously popular style for girls in in the 1930s.

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Created: 7:50 AM 10/6/2018
Last updated: 7:51 AM 10/6/2018