The Little Lords: Analysis of male children’s fashion in the first half of the 20th century (1905-1958)

Abstract

This article seeks to analyze the peak of the phenomenon of dressing boys as "little lords," its decline and disappearance during the first half of the 20th century. This style of clothing became known through the children's book "Little Lord Fauntleroy" by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Two Brazilian publications are used as sources to examine the trajectory of this style: the children's magazine "O Tico-Tico" and the women's publication "Anuário das Senhoras," in addition to Burnett's own book and its representations in theater and cinema. Through these sources, it discusses the patterns of children's clothing (especially for boys) in the first half of the 20th century and the various transformations they underwent. The main references for this study include the works of Philippe Ariès, Jo B. Paoletti, and Gilda de Mello e Souza. Finally, reflections are drawn on how concepts like sweetness, tenderness and beauty, which shaped an ideal of childhood masculinity in the 1900s and 1910s, gradually disappeared and were supplanted by values such as strength and bravery.