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Popular styles of sailor caps followed the uniform styles of the Germany Navy. There were, however, a definite social class aspect to sailor suits and sailor headwear. They were especially popular with upper and middle-class families. We see German boys commonly wearing sailor caps by the 1890s. They surely were worn earlier, but we have few hisorical images. Boys wore a range of cap styles, but they seemed to have cloesly followed the styles of the German Kriegsmarine. There were different styles as well as both blue and white caps. Some were rather stiff construcrtion likethe saucer caps here (figure 1). I'm not sure what the proper term was for these caps. We have also seen soft caps. We see boys wearing sailor caps in the 1920s when sailor hats were no longer commonly worn. Sailor caps except as part of the Hitler Youth Marine Division virually disappeared in Germany after the NAZIs came to power. The NAZIs generally disapproved of sailor suit, except for very little pre-school boys.
Popular styles of sailor caps followed the uniform styles of the Germany Navy. There were, however, a definite social class aspect to sailor suits and sailor headwear.
Of course the best known children to wear sailor suits and caps were the German royals. Here we are not just talking about the Kaiser's famoly, but the many other German royals as well. Of course much larger numbers of German children wore them. Sailor suits and sailor caps were especially popular with upper and middle-class families. We do not see working-class boys wearing them as commonly.
We see German boys commonly wearing sailor caps by the 1890s. This was when Imperial Germany began building a highseas fleet to compete with the Royal Navy. They surely were worn earlier, but we have few hisorical images. The differed styles varied over time. Here a key factor seems to have been the actual uniform caps worn by the Germany Navy.
Boys wore a range of cap styles, but they seemed to have cloesly followed the styles of the German Kriegsmarine. There were different styles as well as both blue and white caps. Some were rather stiff construcrtion like the saucer caps here (figure 1). There were also a syiff cap, but without the saucer top. I'm not sure what the proper term was for these caps. We have also seen soft caps. The soft caps seem to have been very popular. This varied, however, over time. We see boys wearing sailor caps in the 1920s when sailor hats were no longer commonly worn. Sailor caps except as part of the Hitler Youth Marine Division virually disappeared in Germany after the NAZIs came to power. The NAZIs generally disapproved of sailor suit, except for very little pre-school boys.
Many German sailor caps had bages. The most common badge was the Imperial German roundel of black, white, and red. These badges became somewhat less common after World War and the end of the Empire.
German sailor caps came with varying combinations of tallies (cap head band), side ribbons, and streamers. The tally was the cap band that had the name of the sailor's ship. It was normally black silk with the ship name in gold or white. Many sailors saved these tallies as they were transferred to new ships. This tradition was continued for boys. Sometimes the names of famous ships were used. Other times terms like "Kaiserliche Marine" or Deutche Marine". Other tallys had "Deutchland" or the name of a region like "Rhineland". We also notice boys wearing ribbons at the side of the cap. These were often tied into bows. Actual uniform caps did not have these side ribbons.Ribbons often were worn haning down the back which were called streamers. Often caps had two streamer. Actual uniform caps has streamers, but often were shorter than the ones boys wore.
Sailor caps were of course commonly worn with sailor suits. German boys almost always wore sailor caps or hats with sailor suits. The caps and hats were, however, often worn with a wide range of other outfits. German boys (usually pre-teens) wore sailor caps with virtually every type of outfit. The outfits worn with saiolor capos did not have to have any sailor styling. The convention seems to have been that sailor caps were a standard boys' style and thus was suitable to be worn with any kind of boys' clothes. This included both suits and more casual outfits like blouses. These might be middy blouses but they were often blouses without any kind of sailor styling as well. We also see them being worn with coats.
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