Figure 1.--This British Colombia boy proudly sportsa white knee pants sailor suit and broad-brimmed straw hat with long stockings and button shoes. The cabinet card looks to have been taken around 1900-05. The studio was Eyres in Victoria. Notice he is hilding th Uniion Jack and not a Canadian flag.

Sailor suits in Canada as well as America and Britain continued to be very popular after the turn-of-the 20th century. Styles in the 1900s were very similar to the 1890s. A good example is a family portrait taken by an itinerate photographer, probably on New Brunswick. Another good example from the same period is William Molson in Montreal. We tend to note the same age patterns as in America and Britain, somewhat younger boys wore sailiorsuits than was the case on the Continent. The two boys in the family wear matching white sailor suits with floppy tam-like headwear. Styles changes after World War I (1914-18). A Canadian reader has provided us a photograph of an English Canadian boy wearing a traditionally styled sailor suit in 1928. The suit is quite a bit different than those worn by American boys. Perhaps it is based on an English style. Canada had only a small navy at the onset of World War II, it would go onto create one of the largest navies in the world to fight the German U-boats. Ecven so, the popularity of saulir suits for boys as in America and Brirain declined.

Created: 1:11 AM 10/1/2013
Last updated: 1:03 PM 10/1/2013