Figure 1.--The two Soviet children wear matching white sailorsuits that look to be part of some sort of official uniform. Note the red stars on their middly blouses. This is marine uniform from Pioneer Artek camp in 1937. The older girl is the Pioneer leader.

We know that Russian boys wore sailor suits in the 19th century. We suspect that the pattern was somewhat similar to Germany. Connections with the Danish royal family were factors here. We see sailor suits being worn in the Tsar's family, but we are unsure how common they were with the public at large. We know more about the 20th century. Sailor suits were worn both before and after the Revolution. Sailor suits seem very popular in Tsarist Russia. Here the Tsarevitch certainly helped popularize the style. We thoght that because the sailor suit was so connected with the Tsar's family and the middle class that the sailor suit would have disappeared after the Revolution, but this was not the case. We see quite a number of Soviet boys wearing sailor suits.

The 19th Century

We know that Russian boys wore sailor suits in the 19th century. We suspect that the pattern was somewhat similar to Germany. Connections with the Danish royal family were factors here. We see sailor suits being worn in the Tsar's family, but we are unsure how common they were with the public at large.

The 20th Century

We know more about Russian sailor suits in the the 20th century. Sailor suits were worn both before and after the Revolution. Sailor suits seem very popular in Tsarist Russia. Here the Tsarevitch must have helped popularize the style. We thought that because the sailor suit was so connected with the Tsar's family and the middle class that the sailor suit would have disappeared after the Revolution, but this was not the case. We see quite a number of Soviet boys wearing sailor suits. We are not entirely sure how this would have been preceived. In the rest of Europe, the sailor suit had amiddle-class image which also would have not be a positive in Russia. We think the sailor suit was especially popular with the educted elite in urban areas. Also we think that most sailor suits would have been sewn by mothers and were probaby difficult to find in stores.

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Created: September 22, 2003
Last updated: 6:51 AM 3/21/2008