This column explains all the recognised methods of dating old family photos and we now scrutinise our ancestors’ appearance as they posed before the camera. Clothes, accessories and hairstyles are key fashion features, and whilst we should consider all the available photo-dating clues (covered previously) dress details, when correctly identified, provide an accurate time frame. They can be pivotal, especially if other evidence is scarce or hard to interpret.
Here we continue looking at men’s neckwear, now focusing on the 1890s to 1930s, when shirt collars and neckties were still important for a respectable male image. Subtle differences in their size and shape all assist with dating photographs from the late-19th and 20th centuries.
• During the 1890s and turn of the 1900s various styles of neckwear were fashionable concurrently, reflecting their importance to Victorian and early-Edwardian dress and the range of options available
• On the one hand, high standing starched collars were popular, the points either winged or meeting centrefront to form a stiff choker-like effect; on the other, a modern-looking turned-down collar with sharp points developed during the 1890s