Figure 1.--This is a Christmas portrait of two brothers about 3-6 years old. The boys wear identical sailor suits. They have traditionally styled white blouses and dark wool knee pants. The boys are posed on a studio boat, a popular way of photographing children wearing sailor suits. It is a nicely posed portrait by a competent studio. The names and message on the back reads something like, "Archie Leesul [Writing indistinct] & Gilbert with best love, Xmas 1889". Click on the image if you want to have a go a dechiphering the writing. The full mount can also be ssen..The studio was J. Horsburghon Princess Strret in Edinburgh, a studio 'patronized repeatedly by her majety the queen'.

Many sailor outfits were dome with matching or coordinted headwear. The headwear, however, isoften nt worn for the studio portraitts. We see both traditionally styled suits and more varied style diverging from Royal Navy uniforms to a degree. We see a range of styles. Most of the styling was on the blouse. There were both matching blouses and pants as well as white blouses and dark knee pants. We see, for example, button jackets rather than just the pull-over blouse Royal Navy sailors wore. The pants stil might have stripes. We have found several exaples of Scottish boys wearing sailor suits in the 1880s. The styles was well established by this time. We also begin to see knee pants becoming standard. In the 1870s, the blouse styling was often continued on to the pants. This began to become less common in the 1880, especially the end of the decade.

Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Kilt pages:
[Return to the Main Scottish 1880s sailor suit page]
[Return to the Main Scottish 19th century sailor suit page]
[Return to the Main Scottish sailor suit chronology page]
[Return to the Main Scottish sailor suit page]
[Return to the Main Scottish boys suit page]
[Return to the Main Scottish page]
[Return to the Main country sailor suit page]
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[Irish kilts] [Irish boys clothing] [Irish step dancing] [Greek kilts]

Created: 10:27 AM 3/11/2018
Last updated: 10:27 AM 3/11/2018