During the 19th century, men's garments, follow-
ing the example of the civilian male attire of
the French Revolution, developed simple
forms much better adapted to a life of activity
than the elaborate costumes of the past. The
most important development of the century
was the transformation of men's knee breeches into
trousers, and the creation of the lounge suit,
which today is worn for almost all occasions. Men's fashions in the 19th century
developed into relatively plain suits compared to the increasing elaboration,
especially after the first few decades of the century.
Little boys all through the 19th Century were dressed in dresses
and petticoats like girls,
especially in affluent families.
The
dresses chosen varied as to
the mothers preferences. Some mothers would make little boyish
modifications to their sons' dresses
The age at which a boy was breeched varies from family to family.
Some boys as young as 4 might be dressed in more boyish
skeleton
suits, or later in the decade
tunics. Other
boys as old as 5 or 6 might continuev wearing dresses.
While the age boys wore girlish dresses varried, The fashion of
dressing children in juveile fashions was well esablished by the
beginning of the Century. Boys would wear distinctive juvenile
fashions until reaching their teens.
Skeleton suits for breeched boys were common from anout 1790 to
the 1830s. The skeleton suit consisted of a tight jacket, with two
rows of ornamental buttons in front ascending over the shoulders;
ankle-length trousers buttoned to and over the jacket round the
waist. One writer of the time described the style:
A skeleton suit, one of those straight blue cloth cases in which small boys used to be confined before belts and tunics had come in . . . . An ingenious contrivance for displaying the symmetry of a boy's figure by fastening him into a very tight jacket, with an ornamental row of buttons over each shoulder and then buttoning his trousers over it so as to give his legs the appearance of being hooked on just under
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