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The stroller, also known as a Stresemann, a director, or simply black lounge is a form of men's semi-formal daytime dress comprising a single- or double-breasted coat (grey or black), grey striped or checked formal trousers, a necktie (grey or silver), and a waistcoat (dove grey, funeral black, or buff). This makes it largely identical to the formal morning dress from which it is derived, with the exchange of a suit jacket for a morning coat, and the almost exclusive use of a necktie and turndown collar. The correct hat is a bowler, boater hat or Homburg.

For a semi-formal day wedding, the groom dresses in a dark-grey coat with a dove-grey or buff waistcoat; for a funeral, the mourner wears a matching black coat and waistcoat. Traditionally, in the Continent and the Commonwealth, morning dress is worn to formal day events; the stroller in the U.S. (The stroller is the semi-formal day time equivalent of the semi-formal evening dress dinner jacket or tuxedo (black tie); morning dress is the formal day dress equivalent of evening formal dress (white tie).) The recent trend in weddings of ambiguous formality in the United States has led to a sharp decline in the use of either formality.

The term stroller is only used in the US and is unknown in the UK, where, though the garment itself saw a limited period of popularity, was simply called black lounge. Because black was then reserved for formalwear, it was unknown as a colour for lounge suits, so the term was unambiguous. In the UK this mode of dress is now extremely unusual, though some Masonic Lodges which meet during the day rather than (as is more common) in the evening do continue to specify it as their dress code. It also still is worn within the legal profession, especially by barristers, indeed the striped trousers are in some circles referred to as "barrister trousers". In German, a stroller is called a Stresemann, after the Weimar German chancellor Gustav Stresemann. Stresemann, like other German politicians of his age, wore morning dress or a frock coat in the Reichstag or when making public appearances. However, Stresemann found the long coat impractical for daily work in the Chancellery. To avoid having to change completely, he began to wear the prototype of this jacket at his office, while switching to a morning coat when engaged on more formal business. The style quickly caught on as a more practical variation on morning dress. In Japan, it is known as a "director's suit", from the term inside director.

Further reading[link]

• The Gentleman's Gazette provides more information about the Stresemann suit.

A travois being used to transport infants

Various methods of baby transport have been used across different cultures and periods and for different ages of child. Methods can be divided wheeled devices including carrycots (North American English baby carriages) and pushchairs (North American English strollers); also into slings and backpacks, baskets, infant car seats and bicycle carriers. The larger and heavier perambulators, or prams which had became popular during the Victorian era were replaced by lighter and more flexible designs during the later half of the 1900s.

Baskets, slings and backpacks[link]

Navajo child in cradleboard, Window Rock, Arizona, 1936

On-the-body carriers are designed in various forms such as baby sling, backpack carriers, and soft front or hip carriers, with varying materials and degrees of rigidity, decoration, support and confinement of the child. Slings, soft front carriers, and "carrycots" are typically used for infants who lack the ability to sit or to hold their head up. Frame backpack carriers (a modification of the frame backpack), hip carriers, slings, mei tais and a variety of other soft carriers are used for older children.

Backpack carrier

Images of children being carried in slings can be seen in Egyptian artwork dating back to the time of the Pharaohs, and have been used in many indigenous cultures. A cradleboard is a Native American baby carrier used to keep babies secure and comfortable and at the same time allowing the mothers freedom to work and travel.^[1] The cradleboards were attached to the mother’s back straps from the shoulder or the head. For travel, cradleboards could be hung on a saddle or travois. Ethnographic tradition indicates that it was common practice to cradleboard newborn children until they were able to walk,^[2] although many mothers continued to swaddle their children well past the first birthday. Bound and wrapped on a cradleboard, a baby can feel safe and secure. Soft materials such as lichens, moss and shredded bark were used for cushioning and diapers. Cradleboards were either cut from flat pieces of wood or woven from flexible twigs like willow and hazel, and cushioned with soft, absorbent materials. The design of most cradleboards is a flat surface with the child wrapped tightly to it. It is usually only able to move its head.

On-the-body baby carrying started being known in western countries in the 1960s, with the advent of the structured soft pack in the mid 1960s. Around the same time, the frame backpack quickly became a popular way to carry older babies and toddlers. In the early 1970s, the wrap was reintroduced in Germany. In 1986, the ring sling was invented and popularized. In the early 1990s, the modern pouch carrier was created in Hawaii. While the Chinese mei tai has been around in one form or another for centuries, it did not become popular in the west until it was modernized with padding and other adjustments. It first became popular and well known in mid-2003.

Portable cradles, including cradleboards, baskets and bassinets, have been used by many cultures to carry young infants. The modern infant car seat is a relative latecomer.

Wheeled devices[link]

History[link]

William Kent developed an early pram in 1733.^[3] He was a garden architect in England who had become well known for his work. In 1733, the Duke of Devonshire asked Kent to build a means of transportation that would carry his children. Kent obliged by constructing a shell shaped basket on wheels that the children could sit in. This was richly decorated and meant to be pulled by a goat or small pony. Benjamin Potter Crandall sold baby carriages in America in the 1830s which have been described as the "first baby carriages manufactured in America"^[4] His son, Jesse Armour Crandall was issued a number of patents for improvements and additions to the standard models. These included adding a brake to carriages, a model which folded, designs for parasols and an umbrella hanger. By 1840, the baby carriage became extremely popular. Queen Victoria bought three carriages from Hitchings Baby Store.^[5]

The carriages of those days were built of wood or wicker and held together by expensive brass joints. These sometimes became heavily ornamented works of art. Models were also named after royalty, Princess and Duchess being popular names, as well as Balmoral and Windsor.

Pram in Assam, India about 1902

In June 1889, William Richardson patented his idea of the first reversible stroller. The bassinet was designed so it could face out or in towards the parent. He also made structural changes to the carriage. Until then the axis did not allow each wheel to move separately, Richardson’s design allowed this, which increased maneuverability of the carriages. As the 1920s began, prams were now available to all families and were becoming safer, with larger wheels, brakes, deeper prams, and lower, sturdier frames.

In 1965, Owen Maclaren, an aeronautical engineer, worked on complaints his daughter made about traveling from England to America with her heavy pram. Using his knowledge of aeroplanes, Maclaren designed a stroller with an aluminum frame and created the first true umbrella stroller. He then went on to found Maclaren which manufactured and sold his new design. The design took off and soon “strollers” were easier to transport and used everywhere.

In the 1970s, however, the trend was more towards a more basic version, not fully sprung, and with a detachable body known as a "carrycot".^[6] Now, prams are very rarely used, being large and expensive when compared with "buggies" (see below). One of the longer lived and better known brands in the UK is Silver Cross, first manufactured in Hunslet, Leeds, in 1877, and later Guiseley from 1936 until 2002 when the factory closed. Silver Cross was then bought by the toy company David Halsall and Sons who relocated the head office to Skipton and expanded into a range of new, modern baby products including pushchairs and "travel systems". They continue to sell the traditional Silver Cross coach prams which are manufactured at a factory in Bingley in Yorkshire.

Since the 1980s, the stroller industry has developed with new features, safer construction and more accessories.

Modern designs[link]

Tricycle or "jogging stroller"

Wheeled devices are generally divided into 'Prams/carrycots' (British English) or 'baby carriages (North American English) which are used for newborn babies in which the infant normally lies down facing the pusher and 'Push chairs/buggies' (British English), or 'strollers' (North American English) which are used for the small child up to about three years old in a sitting position facing forward. In the United States, "stroller" refers to the open, folding transport, whereas "buggy" refers to the larger, covered transport.

The term carrycot became more common in the UK after the introduction of lighted units with detachable baby carriers in the 1970s. Previously the larger and heavier prams, or perambulators had been used since their introduction in the Victorian era; prams where also used for infants, often sitting up.

As they developed through the years suspension was added, making the ride smoother for both the baby and the person pushing it.

An pram made by Odder

"Pushchair" was the popularly used term in the UK between its invention and the early 1980s, when a more compact design known as a "buggy" became the trend, popularised by the conveniently collapsible aluminium framed Maclaren buggy designed and patented by the British aeronautical designer Owen Maclaren in 1965. "Pushchair" is the usual term in the UK, but is becoming increasingly replaced by buggy; in American English, buggy is synonymous with baby carriage. Newer versions can be configured to carry a baby lying down like a low pram and then be reconfigured to carry the child in the forward-facing position.

A variety of twin pushchairs are manufactured, some designed for babies of a similar age (such as twins) and some for those with a small age gap. Triple pushchairs are a fairly recent addition, due to the number of multiple births being on the increase. Safety guidelines for standard pushchairs apply. Most triple buggies have a weight limit of 50 kg and recommended use for children up to the age of 4 years.

A travel system is typically a set consisting of a chassis with a detachable baby seat and/or carrycot. Thus a travel system can be switched between a pushchair and a pram. Another benefit of a travel system is that the detached chassis (generally an umbrella closing chassis) when folded will usually be smaller than other types, to transport it in a car trunk or boot. Also, the baby seat will snap into a base meant to stay in an automobile, becoming a car seat. This allows undisturbed movement of the baby from into or out of a car and a reduced chance of waking a sleeping baby.

Other[link]

The infant car seat can be used to carry a baby within a car. Infant car seats are legally required in many countries to safely transport children up to the age of 2 or more years in cars and other vehicles. Bicycles can be fitted with a Bicycle trailer or a children's bicycle seat to carry infants and small children; older child can ride on a one-wheel trailer bikes with integrated seat, handle bars. The travois was used by native Americans to carry both infants and luggage behind a horse.

Gallery[link]

• 

  An advertisement for an early perambulator in the 1968 Boston Directory

• 

  A wicker pram

• 

  Baby in buggy, USA, 1935

• 

  A rear child seat

• 

  Pram in the 'Odessa Steps scene' from the 1926 film, The Battleship Potemkin

• 

  0+ infant car seat

• 

  Shopping cart with space for a small child

• 

  3-in-1 travel system

See also[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Baby cars

• Baby sling
• Babywearing
• Baby walker
• Insect net
• Parasol
• Shopping cart
• Silver Cross (pram)
• Travel cot
• Storks and childbirth

Notes[link]

References[link]

• van Hout, I.C. (1993). Beloved Burdens. Koninklijk Instituut voor de Tropen.
• Fontanel, Beatrice (October 1, 1998). Babies Celebrated. Harry N Abrams. p. 250 pages. ISBN 0-8109-4012-4. 

External links[link]

Look up pushchair or stroller in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikibooks has a book on the topic of Stroller Safety

• Bushwalkers' pram (1930s) at the National Museum of Australia.

Look up style in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Style may refer to:

• Style (fiction), an aspect of literary composition
• Style (visual arts), in art and painting, either the aesthetic values followed in choosing what to paint (and how) or to the physical techniques employed
• Architectural style
• Design, the process of creating something
• Fashion, a prevailing mode of expression, e.g., clothing
• Format, various terms that refer to the style of different things
• Genre, a loose set of criteria for a category or composition
• Human physical appearance
• Hairstyle

Style, in specific fields, may also refer to:

• In typeface, one of the three traditional design features along with size and weight
• Style (botany), a stalk structure in female flower parts
• Style (manner of address), titles or honorifics, including Chinese courtesy names

Music[link]

• Music genre, music that shares a certain "basic musical language"
• "Style" (Orbital song), a 1999 single by Orbital
• Style (song), a 2003 single by Mis-Teeq
• "Style" (2007 song), from the Tamil film Sivaji: The Boss
• Style (Cameo album), an album by Cameo released in 1983
• Style (Namie Amuro album), an album by Namie Amuro released in 2003
• Style (Luna Sea album), an album by Luna Sea released in 1996
• Styles P, one third of the group The LOX or one fourth of the supergroup, D-Block
• Style (Swedish band), Swedish 80s band, famous for songs like "Telefon" and "Dover-Calais"
• "Style", a song from the movie Robin and the 7 Hoods
• "Style", a song and single by Kana Nishino

Film and television[link]

• Style (2001 film), a Hindi film starring Sharman Joshi, Riya Sen, Sahil Khan and Shilpi Mudgal
• Style (2004 film), a Burmese film
• Style (2006 film), a Telugu film starring Lawrence Raghavendra and Prabhu Deva Sundaram
• Style Network, an NBCUniversal-owned cable and satellite television network
• Style with Elsa Klensch, a CNN fashion series hosted by Elsa Klensch from 1980 to 2000
• Style (TV series), a 2009 Korean television series
• The pairing of Stan and Kyle from the series South Park, which is often referred to as "Style."

Literature, linguistics, and rhetoric[link]

• The Mysterious Affair at Styles, a novel by Agatha Christie
• Style guide in writing
• Style (sociolinguistics), variation in language use to which social meanings are attributed
• Stylistics (linguistics),the study and interpretation of texts from a linguistic perspective.
• Style, a 1998 fashion book by Elsa Klensch
• Style: Toward Clarity and Grace, a 1990 writing guide by Joseph M. Williams
• Style: An Anti-Textbook, a 1974 monograph by Richard A. Lanham
• Style, a book by Sir Walter Raleigh
• "Style", a pseudonym of author Neil Strauss
• Style (magazine), a South African women's magazine that was published between the 1980s and 2006

Other uses[link]

• Aeros Style, a Ukrainian paragider
• Cascading Style Sheets, in web design
• Style, the part of a sundial's gnomon which casts the shadow
• VIP Style Awards, an annual awards ceremony named after VIP magazine
• STYLE = Syria, Tunisia, Yemen, Libya & Egypt (5 countries of Arab Spring)

See also[link]

• Stile, a step used for crossing a fence
• Stylus, a writing instrument

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