Accessories have always been crucial to completing one’s entire outlook. No matter you are male or female, proper matching accessories can only give a touch of completeness, but also enhance your look of the day. If we go back to several decades ago, even there were accessories as much popular as they are today. Back in those days, accessories symbolised wealth and sophistication. Mostly, the aristocratic and rich people wore accessories to parties and gatherings. Most of them had gems and emeralds embedded on them, as a result of which they weren’t affordable to the middle class. Accessories for women, men, and kids were different. Various kinds of accessories, ranging from gorgeous ones to the statement accessories were available. The statement accessories were for daily use, which gave a minimalistic touch while the gorgeous ones were worn by women to parties especially. Hence, for giving a proper finish to your outfit, wearing the right accessories was extremely important.
In this article, we are going to talk about the accessories that teenage boys and girls wore during 1910. However, one cannot notice much difference in the accessories they wore and the accessories that men and women wore. Accessories were different for different occasions, like party accessories, wedding accessible, casual outing accessories, and so on. Now let’s have a detailed look at the accessories one after another.
Teenage girl accessories during 1910
Designed with sparkling and intricate details, Edwardian jewellery symbolised elegance. They enhanced the look of teenagers highly. Mostly, the accessories were made up of diamonds and pearls. Sometimes they were embedded in other gemstones too. As we already mentioned, varieties of jewellery were available in those days. Teenagers wore tassels, bows, wreaths, handbags, hats, and strings of flowers. With these, they coupled their look with an Edwardian styled necklace, earrings, lace boots, dress, and a large feather hat. We would now have a look at each of these accessories popular among teenage girls during 1910.
- Hats
Worn by men and women, boys and girls, the hat was a common and extremely popular vintage fashion accessory. Edwardian hats were mostly made up of furs. They were thick and large-sized. Hats had several other components on them for its decoration, like lace, feather on one side, and ribbons. These hats were also popularly known as Gainsborough hats. Apart from these, the Merry Widow type of hats was equally popular. Once, Lily Elsie wore the Merry Widow styled hat in one of her lead roles. Ever since then, Merry Widow styled hats have become increasingly famous. Mostly the hats were black but as the age progressed, hats were available in a lot of other colours as well. Some had wide chiffon brims attached to them. Edwardian hats were large enough to fit everyone. They were more famous because of their unnecessary large size. Hats became daily wear for women and teenagers. With seasons, the choice of hats changed. Girls wore straw hats during summers while hats of heavier materials like fur and velvet during winter. Flat caps, straw sailor hats, cartwheel hats, and automobile bonnets are some of the popular varieties of hats during the Edwardian period.
- Hand gloves
Contradictory to the purpose of gloves in recent times, they were used as an accessory back in the Edwardian times. They have been used by women and men to show off their social status and wealth. Not only that, but gloves have also significantly represented traditions, culture, and a social standard as we already mentioned. Gloves are a unique piece of accessory, much different than the other accessories, and hence acquire a different place in the history of fashion. Teenage girls largely wore hand gloves to parties and social gatherings. However, keep in mind that the custom of wearing gloves as an accessory was most popular among the aristocratic teenage girls.
During the daytime, they wore gloves made up of leather or suede. They were long enough to cover their hands completely. Also, the gloves were appropriately fitted because loosely fitted gloves reflected one’s low status in society. Girls wore push gloves to evening parties and gatherings. Usually, the push gloves were made up of silk fabric. In those days, gloves were available in a variety of shades like white, ivory, and grey. Some were neutrally coloured too.
- Handbags
Needless to say, handbags are still an important accessory for women and girls. Back in the Edwardian period, it was the same. Through all these years, the designs have come and gone, but the purpose has remained the same. In the Edwardian times, they were available in a lot of shapes, sizes, and designs too. However, as the era progressed, we saw major changes in women’s handbags. Various types of handbags were available like shopping bags that were manufactured from leather to tote bags. Even fancy bags were also available. They were used to show off their aristocracy and wealth. However, teenage girls had to take care of the fact that the design and colour of the bag had to match her outfit. A few decorative items like opera glasses and foldable fans were attached to the bags to make them look even fancier.
- Pins
Pins were used by both teenage girls and women during 1910. Pins in those days were highly purposeful. They helped girls in keeping up with their feather hats. Hairpins helped teenage girls to keep their hairstyles in the proper place. They also used ribbons made up of tulle, taffeta, and velvet to keep the bun tight or tie the end of the teenager’s braids. One thing to keep in mind is that both women of the Edwardian period and the Gibson girl used to wear pins, but differently. The Gibson girl used it as a hair accessory whereas Edwardian women used hairpins to properly place their hats.
- Shoes
Teenage girls wore attractive shoes in different styles and designs. High buttoned boots made up of ivory satin or rose were mostly preferred. They usually had a satin ribbon with a lace to be tied. Mostly boots were worn during the daytime, as per the outfits. Girls wore fancy pump shoe heel to night parties and gatherings. Also, court heels were popular. They were similar to flats or slippers and were popular among women as well as girls.
Teenage boys accessories during 1910
The accessories worn by teen-age was closely similar to that of men’s accessories during 1910. Accessories included a pair of braces or suspenders in vertical stripe elastic webbing or solid. They had leather buttonholes on the tips. Carrying a pocket watch was extremely important and popular. The pocket chain was to be tucked into the best pocket of his suit. Similar to women, men too wore leather gloves to parties and gatherings. With fancy suits, they wore fancy boots and shoes, about which we would discuss later. Apart from all the above-mentioned ones, boys also carried a rolled umbrella more as a fashion accessory than for protection. Just like women, they also wore gloves. Mostly they were tan, grey, white coloured. Sometimes boys matched the colour of the hand gloves to that of their neckwear. Gloves during the Edwardian age was made up of suede, kidskin leather or cloth.
These accessories were the most popular throughout the period. As the age approached its end, we saw new styles and designs of accessories coming up with new designers rising to fame. If you add one or a few of these accessories to your outfit, it would surely transform your look into an Edwardian gentleman. Now let’s have a detailed look at the accessories worn by teenage boys:
- Shoes
Young boy’s shoes were mostly brown coloured lace-up dress boots or Oxford shoes. Remember that accessories worn by men and boys were similar. Hence, Oxford shoes and boots were equally popular among young men of the Edwardian age. They had cap toes and detailed on the seams. Shoe toes were blunt and round. This shape gradually turned into a rounded Square toe towards the end of 1910. Shoe soles were made up of thick rubber. Initially, both shoes and boots were popular but when the world war took place, boots become specifically worn by working-class boys and men. Teens wore the iconic dual shaded lace-up shoes for causal activities and sports.
- Edwardian boots
Boots were meant for heavy walking. Mostly they were worn while travelling, doing labour jobs, or wars. They were half laced up. The toes had high arches and bulbous in the initial years. Towards the end of the decade, toes became lower arched. Meanwhile, dual shaded boots were also popularly worn.
- Edwardian hats
The hat was the last addition to a boy’s outfit. Teens mostly wore men’s hats, as there wasn’t any hat, especially for teen boys to be worn. Teen boys usually wore 8-panel caps, that were called falt caps in those days and newsboy cap in contemporary times. To attend formal gatherings, they wore a fur-coated hat which was similar to men’s homburg or fedora. In general, teen boys and men remained hatless. Boys didn’t wear hats until they entered college at least. Finishing with a sophisticated hat was the last and final touch which Edwardian men and boys needed. During the daytime, they wore bowler hats or derby hats. While they wore silk top hats to formal parties.
- The gold pocket watch
This was an important accessory mostly worn by men. Sometimes teenage boys too Carried a gold watch on the vest pockets of their suits. Aristocratic men could afford to wear this watch with better quality materials having elegant and decorative designs. The middle and lower class boys wore gold pocket watches made up of low-grade metals, having simple or no designs.
- Bow ties, cravats, and neckties
Cravat ties, neckties and bow ties were worn interchangeably by teen boys. Cravats were ideally made as daywear while thin bowties were worn to formal occasions. Dark neckties become popular after 1914. Boy’s ties were tightly fitted to that they could fit under the high stand collar of their shirts. They were thin as well and came in several varieties of ties. Mostly they were of diverse colours like maroon, green, blue, and purple. Also, they had designs on them. Some were solids, some had vertical designs while others had pin dots and colourful prints. Teenage boys wore cravats during the daytime along with morning suits. In place of neckties, boys started to wear butterfly bow ties with their suits.
We have tried to cover the major accessories popular among teenage boys and girls during the Edwardian era. You would be surprised to know that in contemporary times, the Edwardian styled clothes and accessories are still available. If you want to shop for them, you can easily get the products online. However, be sure to check the authenticity of the online product that you buy. Also buy from a reputed store, which would guarantee return and refund options. A lot of fake sites exist, so be careful to not get duped and buy a fake product.