United States Boys' Clothes: Dee Wilbank (California Boy, 1902)


Figure 1.--Here is a composite photograph that pictures a 5 2/3 year old boy (as noted on the back) in various poses wearing his sailor suit. The written notation on the back reads "Dee Wilbank - Dee - 1902 - 5 2/3 years"". The boy wears an emaculate white sailor suit without any detailing. He has a darl presumably black scarve. The outfit is a kneepants sailor suit which the boyswears with contrasting black long stockings. Also notice the great sailboat.

Here is a composite photograph that pictures a 5 2/3 year old boy (as noted on the back) in various poses wearing his sailor suit. The written notation on the back reads "Dee - 1902 - 5 2/3 years". The photographer (Stecnil?) has signed the photo in pencil under the first photo on the left. The photo was taken in Los Angeles. After the individual photos were taken, the professional photographer made the composite and developed the final photo. The composite was then attached securely and expertly to a fairly thick cabinet card-like material. The boy wears an emaculate white sailor suit without any detailing. He has a darl presumably black scarve. The outfit is a kneepants sailor suit which the noyswears with contrasting black long stockings. A white sailor suit like this would have been for Summer wear. He has a dark reefer jacket which woyld have been worn in cooler weather.

Composite Portrait

Here is a composite photograph. The photographer (Stecnil?) has signed the photo in pencil under the first photo on the left. The photo was taken in Los Angeles. After the individual photos were taken, the professional photographer made the composite and developed the final photo. The composite was then attached securely and expertly to a fairly thick cabinet card-like material.

The Boy

The portrait pictures a 5 2/3 year old boy (as noted on the back) in various poses wearing his sailor suit. The written notation on the back reads "Dee Wilbank - Dee - 1902 - 5 2/3 years". I assume Dee Wilbank is the boy's name. The writing is not very clear, but it looks like Dee Wilbank. I have never see the name "Dee" before. Presumably it is a nick name. Dee at almost 6 would be the right age to begin school as long as he reaches 6 years by September. Unfortunately we know noting more about Dee other than this composite portrait and that he was from Los Angeles. His smart outfit suggests that he was from a family in comfortable circumstances.

Outfit

Sailor suits were a very popular style for boys around the turn of the century. The boy wears an emaculate white sailor suit without any detailing. He has a darl presumably black scarve. The outfit is a kneepants sailor suit which the boy wears with contrasting black long stockings. There were other colors, but black stockings were very commonly worn by boys and girls, even with white outfits. A white sailor suit like this would have been for Summer wear. He has a dark reefer jacket which would have been worn in cooler weather. He also wears his saucer sailor cap with a front emblem in one frame, but it appears in several others. Presumably mother was anxious that the cap appear in the photos even if Dee was not wearing it.

Hair Style

We do not know what kind of hair style Dee had as a younger boy. Dee here had a short hair cut. It was parted at the left. It is parted a little higher than modern side parts. At the time, some boys still wore center parts, so these high side parts were not unusual. Mother clearly gave him a good comb for the portrait as it is a virtual razor part.

Props

Here we have only one prop, a great model sailboat. It of course goes perfectly with Dee's sailorsuit. In one impage we see Dee working with the rigging. It looks to be a working sailboat, so we can picture Dee sailing it in a part pond. What we do not know is if it was actually his boat or a studio prop.







HBC





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Created: 4:19 AM 5/28/2005
Last updated: 7:16 PM 5/28/2005