'Scotch' Suit

Photograph, Justinian William Andria Laczkovic, 1883. Museum no. B.82:27-1995 (click image for larger version)

This is a photograph taken in 1883 is of a Victorian boy named Justin Laczkovic aged eight.

Photographs offer us important evidence of what people wore in the past and how they wore it. In this studio portrait Justin Laczkovic wears one of the most popular fashions for boys at that time, a 'Scotch' or Highland suit. This was a commercial version of Scottish national dress. It usually consisted of the kilt, waistcoat, jacket, plaid, sporran and cap. Some parents went further and added plaid socks, buckled shoes, Cairngorm brooches, tartan capes or sprays of heather.

In contrast with the sober appearance of men's clothing in the 19th century, there was at times almost an element of fancy dress in the clothing of younger boys. Sailor suits, military jackets, agricultural smocks, and historic styles such as the Fauntleroy suit were popular with parents, if not always with their sons. Most of these influences lasted until the 1920s, despite the protests of clothes reformers such as Ada Ballin.

At this date it was not just Scots and those of Scottish ancestry who wore kilts and tartan. Highland dress was banned in the UK by an Act of Parliament between 1746 and 1782, because of the Jacobite rebellions of 1715 and 1745. When the law was changed, highland styles and fabrics soon became fashionable again. Queen Victoria was an ardent enthusiast - her sons wore kilts in Scotland, and also for formal occasions such as the opening of the Great Exhibition. Her third son, Arthur, even had an all-black mourning version of highland costume when Prince Albert died in 1861.