Francis Hobson Benett helped introduce a style of dress for boys that
proved exceedingly popular among doting mothers. The author modelled her
famous fictional creation after her own son,
Vivian, and therby condemned
a generation of "manly little chaps" to the picturesque romantic outfits.
The clothing styles popularized in her book were based on the styles
she adopted for her two sons, Vivian and his older brother Lionel. She
made
the boys' clothing herself. It became a labor of love, enhanced by the
young author's
romantic imagination. The result was the flamboyant page-boy costume
poularized in her book and acompanying
illustrations.
The story first
appeared in St Nicholas magazine in November 1885. The fiirst
book edition of Little Lord Fautleroy was published in 1886. She
described Cedric's appearance in the book: "What the Earl saw was a graceful,
childish figure in a black velvet suit, with a lace collar, and with
lovelocks waving about the hansome, many little face, whose eyes met his
with a look of innocent good-fellowship." It was
an instant success and indelibly popularized these elaborate velvet suits. The sons of
countless impressionable American mothers were condemned to velvet
page-boy suits, short pants, lace collars, and the crowning burden--long flowing curls. Little
Lord Fautleroy had arrived on the American sartorial scene with a vengence.
Boys beginning at about 2-5 years of age who wore
dresses often were outfitted
in Fauntleroy suits as their first boyish outfits. Most stores offered
Fautleroy suits in sizes from 2/3 to 8 years. This meant a boy receiving a
new suit at 8, might still be wearing it at 9 or 10. Boys as old as 13 in rich or
aristocratic families are
known to have worn them. The heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortue, for
example, was still wearing velvet suits at 13.
The Fauntleroy rage began in the 1880s
and continued through the turn of the century. The most distinguishing
fearture was an elaborate lace collar and
blouse. Many of the early suits
also had lace at the hem of the knee length pants. Very young boys might be
dressed in a Fautleroy jacket and lace collar with a kilt or frock instead of
pants. The suits at first had
mostly knee
or below the knee pants worn with black stockings and shoes. As time past
the use of white stockings, shorter pants, and black patent strap shoes was
introduced. Some mothers also kept boys wearing Fauntleroy suits in long hair
with sasuage
curls.
Styles varied, but one clothing catalog described the following Fautleroy
suit:
In this instance the costume is pictured made of dark-blue velvet,
white silk, cambric and all-over embroidery. The trousers reach a little
below the knees and are shaped by darts and the customary seams along the
inside and outside of the leg; and the closing is made at the sides with
button-holes and buttons. The trousers are attached by means of buttons
and button-holes to a cambric shirt-waist.
The shirt-waist is shaped by shoulder and under-arm seams and closed
at the center of the front with buttonholes and buttons, a box-plait
being arranged in the front edge of the right front. The fullness at
the waist-line is collected at the back and at each side of the closing
by two rows of shirring made at belt depth apart; a belt is applied to
the waist between the shirrings, and buttons are sewed to the belt for
the attachment of the trousers. The shirt sleeves are of comfortable
width and are finished with wristbands, to which deep, round cuffs arc
joined; and a stylishly deep sailor-collar mounted on a band is at the
neck.
The back of the jacket is nicely conformed to the figure by a curving
center seam, and joins the fronts in shoulder and side seams. An opening
to a side pocket is made in each front, and the closing is made at the
center of the front with button-holes and buttons. The coat sleeves are
of comfortable width and are shaped by the usual seems along the inside
and outside of the arm. The sailor collar and round cliffs of the
shirtwaist roll prettily over the neck and wrists of the jacket, and the
waist is encircled by a silk sash. The long edges of the sash are seamed,
and the ends are gathered up closely and finished with tassels. The sash
is knotted at the left side, and its ends fall to uneven depths.
Fauntleroy costumes are still fashionable for little men, and are
developed in velvet, serge, flannel and cloth. Silk is used for the sash
and the collar and cuffs may be of Irish point or point de Gene
embroidery or Hamburg edging.
We have pattern No. 471.6 in six sizes for little boys from two to
seven years of age.
Various materials were used for Fautleroy suits. One of the most
popular
for dress suits was velvet. Other materials included serge, flannel,
and
a variety of clothes.
Most Fautleroy suits were black or dark blue, but others colors such
as
burgandy were also made.
Fauntleroy suits were often worn with various accesories. They
almost
always worn with hats. The most common were
broad-brimmed
sailor hats. A common accesory was a silk sash.
Even at the time of publication, velvet suits and lace collars for
boys
were not received with unbridled enthusiasm. Some neighbors had criticized
the clothes in which that her two sons were dressed. The Washington
press allged that
she was posing the two charming children to impress guests and further
her
litteary career. She anwsered her critics: "That the little fellows
have worn velvet and lace, and being kindly endowed by Nature, have so
adorned it as to fill a weak parent with unbridled vanity, before which
peacocks might retire, is true, but I object to their being handicapped
in their childhood by stupid, vulgar, unfounded stories, and I advance
with due modesty the proposition that my taste for the picturesque has
not led me to transform two strong, manly, robust boys into affected,
abnormally self-conscious, little mountebanks."
Less elaborate Fauntleroy suits continued into the 1920s, but with
short pants. Mothers on the Continent, especially in France or Italy, chose
very short short pants for boys with lacey blouses, although not as elaborate
as those worn during the height of the Fauntleroy craze in the late 19th
Century.
Boys during the Victorian and Edwardian period generally wore what was
selected by their mothers. They generally had little say in the matter. But
of
all the common styles, Little Lord Fauntleroy suits, especialy those with
elaborate lace
collared
blouses, and
kilts were among the most disliked. Only
limited information is available on boyish
preferences. As a result, it
is
unclear which were more disliked.
