Figure 1.--Here we see Carl in his blue stripped Summer sailor suit consisting of cap, middy blouse, dickey, and kneepants. Thiswould have been a dressy suit. There were also play versions. Image by Birte Koch. |
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There were a variety of alternatives for a 7-year old boy like Carl. He would have been breached a few years earlier. Amercan children begin school at age 6 so Carl probably would have been a secongrader. . He might have worn a tunic suit, but probably not to school. He might also have had a Fauntleroy suit for church and special occassions. More common might have been a sack uit like a Norfolk suit, although it would have been more common perhaps next year. He would have probanly worn it with a ruffled collar and a large floppy bow. He probably had blouses (also called a waist) which he wore with kneepants. Some of these could be very fancy. When dressing up mother probably would have added a large floppy bow. We have chosen to oufit Carl in a light-weight Summer sailor suit. It is a white suit with blue stripes. He wears it with an embroiderd dickey. The dickey actually was a separate vest-like garment.Sailor suits came in a wide variety of styles and colors. Carl probably would have had a second sailor suit. It would have been a navy blue suit made in a heavy material like serge for Winter wear.
There were a variety of alternatives for a 7-year old boy like Carl. He would have been breached a few years earlier. Amercan children begin school at age 6 so Carl probably would have been a secongrader. . He might have worn a tunic suit, but probably not to school. He might also have had a Fauntleroy suit for church and special occassions. More common might have been a sack uit like a Norfolk suit, although it would have been more common perhaps next year. He would have probanly worn it with a ruffled collar and a large floppy bow. He probably had blouses (also called a waist) which he wore with kneepants. Some of these could be very fancy. When dressing up mother probably would have added a large floppy bow.
We have chosen to oufit Carl in a light-weight Summer sailor suit. It is a white suit with blue stripes. He wears it with an embroiderd dickey. The dickey actually was a separate vest-like garment.Sailor suits came in a wide variety of styles and colors. Carl's suit here is a very traditional suit, meanging styled like naval uniforms. There were a wide variety of other styles available, primarily variations on the shape of the "V" colar and detailing of that coloar. Carl here has the traditional three stripes said the represent Ndlson's three great victories in the Napoleonic Wars. He probably would have had a second sailor suit. It would have been a navy blue suit made in a heavy material like serge for Winter wear. Readers may want to look at the American sailor suit page.
A complete sailor suit consisted of headwear, dickey, middy blouse or jacket, and pants. Although not part of the acutal suit, they were commonly worn with long stockings. High-top shoes were also very common.
There were different styles of sailor headwear that could be worn by Carl with his sailor suit. A wide-brimmed sailor cap is one possibility, but was probably more common by a slightly older boy. More likely was probably a sailor cap. Here two styles were especially popular. One was the saucer type of hard-top cap. This was the style actually worn by sailors at the time. The other was the soft cap rather like a tam. Sailor caps commonly came with tallies with ship names. American tallies commonly said just "U.S. Navy". All these different styles of headwear were worn with black streamers of varying length.
The dickey (also referred to as a shield) was the visible bit between the "V" of the sailor collar. Dickeys were done in different ways. They could be plain, have a embroidered emblem, or stripes. The actual garments were constructed differently. The one hown here was ptobably done as a kind of sleeveless under vest. The front and back might be done in different materials, but this was probably not the case for the striped dickeys popular in Europe. Here we are specualing as to Carl's dickey. We have seen dickey's done like this, but are not sure just how common they were. We commonly see the exposed pat in portraits and catalog sales catalog. Actual images of the dickies are very rare.
Carlr here wears a middy blouse sailor suit. The middy blouse closed with a draw string at the waist and bloused over the waist band of Carl's kneepants. White suits and whites suits with blue stripes were a very popular choice for summer. They were also done in many other colors, including pink. The white suits might be worn for dressy occassions. Suits dome in grey or brown that didn't show the dirt as much might be wirn as plau suits. Carl's sit is quite traditional. There were many other stylistic variations. Not all sailor suits wre done as middy blouses. There were other possiblities such as bitton up blouuses and jackets that extended below the waist.
John here wears a kneepants sailor suit. This was by far the most common choice for boys in 1900. Long pants sailor suits did exist, but they were far less common for boys this age. In 1900 they were virtually the only long pants available for boys Carl's age. Sailor suits were also done in bloomer knickers, but this seems much less common in America than it was in Europe.
Black stokings were very common, even during the Summer for boys of all ages. If Carl's mother was fashion concious he might have worn white stockings when dressing up for special occassions. White three-quarter socks are another podsibility in the Summer. Primarily he would have, however,worn long black stockings, even though he is wearing a light-colored sailor suit.
High-top shoes were also very common in 1900. This is what Carl probably wore with his sailor suit. If Carl's mother was especially fashion concious he might have worn strap shoes when dressing up for special occassions, but for normal wear he would have worn hightop leather shoes.
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