Figure 1.--The Au Bon Marché Paris department store offered these sailor caps which they called berets 1911. Note "Port Said" on the hat band, presumably that is the name of a noted French war ship.
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Figure 1.--The Au Bon Marché Paris department store offered these sailor caps which they called berets 1911. Note "Port Said" on the hat band, presumably that is the name of a noted French war ship. |
The Paris Deparment store Au Bon Marché in its winter 1911 catalog offered two sailor caps that except for an inscription on the cap band look quite similar. The caps are shown being worn with a traditionally styled sailor cap. The sailor suit and cap was one of the most popular outfits for boys. The sizes were not specified, but were probably for school age boys to about 13 years of age.
Au bon Marché is a large Paris department store. We are not sure when it was founded, but we have noted advertisments for
boys clothing from the early 20th century. I'm not sure when the store was founded or any details about it. The hat here was offered in the Winter 1911 catalog.
Two sailor caps are mentioned and illustrated in the Au Bon Marché winter catalog. They look quite similar.
The ad copy read, "No. 31442. Béret pour garçonnets drap fin forme mode ruban inscription tissée or, cuir intérieur, Marine seulement ... Fr 3.75." This would translate as, "Cap for small boys, fine cloth fashionable style, ribbon woven, gold inscription, leather interior, navy blue only... Fr 3.75."
The ad copy reads, "Béret pour garçonnets drap fin, forme mode broderie écusson sur le galon, cuir intérieur. Marine seulement ... Fr 4.50." This would translate as "Cap for small boys, fine cloth, fashionable [escutcheon?] style embroidery on the [galon?/stripe?], interior leather, navy blue only ... Fr 4.50."
Figure 2.--The Au Bon Marché Paris department store offered these sailor caps which they called berets 1911. Note there is no inscription on this one. |
There is no age specified for the sailor caps. The sailor suits worn with he caps, however, were mad or sizes 3 to 13 years. Presumably the caps woul be made in the same sizes.
The caps are the flat topped sailor caps commonly worn at the time. Presumably they are based on the styles worn by French sailors. They look similar to British naval uniform styles as well. Ther is a short streamer.
Notice that Au Bon Marché refers to these sailor caps wer refrred to as "bérets". This indicates that unlike the modern use of "béret" in the early 20th century it was used to mean a boys' cap in general.
These flat-topped caps were worn by French boys into the 1930s. Gradually beginning in the 1920s the new "Bob Marin" cap became more popular for wear with sailor suits. The Bob Marin is still worn by French boys today.
Figure 3.--Here one of the caps is shown as being worn with the illustrated sailor suit by Au Bon Marché. |
The sailor caps illustrated here were worn with the traditional suits shown on the same page. The Paris Deparment store Au Bon Marché in its winter 1911 catalog offered sailor suits. The sailor suit was one of the most popular outfits for boys. The sizes were not specified, but were probably for school age boys to about 12 years. The outfit included a middy blouse and kneepants and as it is winter is shown as being worn with long stockings.
French boys in 1911 might during the winter wear their sailor caps with reefer jackets. Au Bon Marché shows the refer jacket being worn with a different hat, but a sailor cap is probably more likely.
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