Figure 1.--Here are Rotterdam Boys Choir choristers wearing their trademarked sailor suit uniforms. Some of the oldr boys whose vouces have broken wear regular suits.
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Figure 1.--Here are Rotterdam Boys Choir choristers wearing their trademarked sailor suit uniforms. Some of the oldr boys whose vouces have broken wear regular suits. |
The boys wear sailor suits for their performances. I'm not sure why the sailor suit was chosen. Of course Rotterdam is one of the world's major ports and with the Dutch maritime tradition, the sailor suit was a logical choice.
Sailor suits were still commonly worn by Dutch boys in the 940s and even the 50s, although for smaller boys. Bu this time they were mostly worn for dress purposes, always in navy blue. A Dutch reader tells us, "I myself (1947) can remember the sailor suit I woreas a boy. I was very proud to have a saloir suit for sundays, birthdays, etc. When there was an official occasion in our school about 25 percent of the boys in my class wore a sailor suit. Always with short pants. In the period after the World war II there was in Holland an atmoshere of rebuilding the country, but also of reconstructing our traditions of values before the war. We wanted to demonstrate that the War and the NAZIs were not succesfull in destroying them. Maybe that explains also the continuing of dressing traditions untill the 1960s when nearly everything changed." The sailor suits quickly became the Choir's
trademark. From the beginning the boys wore the white blouse with the attached blue collar. This was the tropical uniform worn by the Royal Dutch navy. The first blouses were in fact donated to the Choir by the Navy. Due to the colonial history (Indonesia) the Dutch navy also operated in the tropics. The Navy uniform also included white shorts and kneesocks. The Choir however chose blue long pants. Perhaps for esthetical reasons or because of Dutch history, the
boys have always been proud to wear their sailorsuit uniforms.
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