Figure 1.--This English boy wears an elaborately styled sailor tunic suit. Not how mother ha insisted that he hold is arm so that the photograph shows the lace on the back flap of his tunic. He wears short pants under his tunic, American boys more commonly wore above the knee knickers with long stockings. |
The sailor tunic came in a wide variety of styles. Some were very plain with virtually no styling except for the required belt. Others were quite elaborate styles with lace and ruffles. These may appear to have been made for girls, but in fact they were boys' formal garments. A girls' formal garment would have been more likely to have been a party frock. Some sailor tunics had the characteristic front "v" cut sailor collar while others had a square front collar. All had characteristic back flaps. Some of the black flaps were plain like a middy blouse, other fancy tunic suits may have lace trimmed or even large lace back flaps.
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