Two canes, three hats, a mustache and a whole lot of attitude. Tintype. Private Collection.
These three 1880s gentlemen by a balustrade are all very well-dressed, the one to the right with the creased pants, the other to the left with a tight-fitting striped pair. All are wearing Windsor ties typical of the decade.
The men look like they were business partners. The confident attitude of the man to the left makes him look like a ruthless go-getter. Roar!
1890s CDV. Private Collection.
A very interesting little CDV, both unique and beautiful, of a young man in profile with glasses on his nose.
He’s wearing some fine and unusual evening wear. The details are amazing like the diamond shaped buttons on the white shirt, and the looped ones on the slim coat. His bowtie looks made of velvet.
His hair also feels like an anachronism.
Back of CDV. V. Donat & J. Tomas
Photographer: V. Donat & J. Tomas. Prague. Czech Republic (the Austro Hungarian Empire at the time).
Zuli, David and a lady friend. Cabinet card. Private Collection.
My 200th post!
Zuli is one gorgeous lady. David is in a bowler and high collar with dark gloves, but the ladies…look at the ornate big ‘Merry Widow’ hats! There’s a whole cake on top of Zuli’s head! What a cute and uncommon name too. The ladies in these pictures are always the stars, but I love group pictures of handsome gents with their pretty women. ;)
David’s last name was Strader, Miss Zuli’s last name was Frop. The name of the second woman in glasses is illegible. I think she looks like she was related to David -maybe his sister. There’s a number too: 5-10. May 1910?
Summertime75 posted a funny article from 1908 on the ‘Merry Widow Hat’ trend that swept the nation. It’s worth reading for a good laugh. People of the day found those large hats rather ridiculous! This was an upper society trend. Those hats were quite expensive and a status item.
Another funny N.Y Times article dated June 14, 1908 describes a stampede when at the end of the Broadway show (which inspired the trend) 1,200 souvenir hats were supposed to be handed to 1,300 awaiting women.
Photographer: Emery’s. 162 Main Street. Blank back.
1880s teens. 1/6th plate tintype. Private Collection
This is one I acquired recently and there’s everything to love here; how the boy’s frock coat with the short bowler contrasts with the young girls’ elaborate Victorian fashion with the pleats and patterns. The details are amazing too, like the lace collar of the girl in the back and the feathered derby of the one in the front (I want it). The young ladies are all wearing their neatly brushed hair down.
Also, the two front girls are sitting high on the bench; they must be wearing bustle dresses.
These four most likely were brother and sisters who were close in age, or maybe fraternal twins with siblings, or perhaps siblings with cousins. One thing’s for certain, they were all very photogenic and made a gorgeous group portrait.
Some pictures make me want to stare for ages. This is one of those. I have it framed by my computer.
Here’s a CDV of the same era with another teen boy wearing a similar short bowler I find very stylish.
Digital restoration work titled Beautiful Victorian Teen Sisters And Their Cute Brother In A Bowler by Caroline C. Ryan is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Circa 1890. J.H.Kent CDV. Private Collection.
Another wonderful J.H. Kent photograph added to the fold. This time a CDV of a toddler boy placed behind a sofa with his hands over the back. I love how plain everything is so the focus is exclusively on the sitter, and I love that one of the buttons of the jacket is undone. No matter how still the pose seems, this is still an active little kid!
J.H. Kent. Rochester N.Y. CDV
Bowlers And High Collars 