Figure 1.--Here we see a Russian boy in 1912. He wears a sailor suit very similar to the one worn by the Tsarevitch. The only difference is that this boy has cropped hair. The back of the portrait has some partially covered writing ehich my be the boy's name. Click on the image to see the back.

We see many Russians boys continuing to wear sailor suits in the early 1910s. Here the Tsarevitch certainly helped popularize the style, but he probably wore sailor suits because they were such a popular style. His father wore sailor suits as a boy. Except for special occassions where he wore besecorated military uniforms, the Tsarevitch almost always wore sailor suits until World War I when he joined his father at the front. And of course all the Tsarevitch's his cousins in Britain, Denmark, and Germany also wore sailor suits. The sailor suit was clearly not just for the royal family and wealthy elite. Disasters at the front let to the Russian Revolution (1917). This and the ensuing Civil War (1918-21) devestated Russia and ruined the already war-weakened economy. As a result, we note fewer portraits being taken and as a result we know less about the late 1910s and early-20s. Not only did fashion deteriorate in the chaos, but from the Bolsheviks proletarian point of ciew sailor suitss as we would now say poltically incorrect. There was not only the assoiciation with the Tsar's family, but the middle class as well.

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Created: 1:44 AM 6/9/2010
Last updated: 1:44 AM 6/9/2010