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American boys commonly had plain dickies and ones with embroidered desigsns. We do not see many boys with stripped dickies as were popular in Europe. Designs varied widely. Popular American designs included nautical images like anchors and ship wheels as well as military imagery like eagles, stars, and laurel wreaths. We also see patriotic images like eagles and stars. We see some of the same images used in both American and Europe. Some of the American images seem bilder than ones we see in Europe. A good example is an American boy in the early 20th century with a bold star on his dickey. Unfortunately it is usually not possible from portraits and other photographs to detenire the type of dickey.
Sailor blouses were commonly made to be worn with dickies, sometines called shields. We have no details about the origins of these two terms. Presumably they were the terms used in England, but I am not yet sure about that. We see both terms being used in period catalogs.
We have just begun working on the chironology of American sailor suit dickies. Sorting out the chronology of sailor suit dickies is complicated by the fact that most period photographic images are undated, althoug hwe can often estimate the approximate date from the clothing styls and the mount styles. They seem most common during the 1890s through the 1910s. Embroidered designs were popular during this period. We begin to see more stroped dickies in the 1920s. After this the sailor suit and with them dickies began to rapidly decline in popularity. The type of dickey and the decorations varied over time. We note a portrait of a lovely mother and her son which must have been taken in the 1890s. He has a white dickey with an embroidered anchor with chevrons.
We note American boy Ralph Patterson Olmstead with an enbroidered fickey on 1912.
American dickies commonly had a differentb emroidered designs. We notice great variety. Some dickies were just plain, but many had designs. There were a variety of popular designs, most with nautical themes like like anchors and ship wheels as well as military/patriotic imagery like eagles, stars, and laurel wreaths. Some of the American images seem bolder than ones we see in Europe. A good example is an American boy in the early 20th century with a bold star on his dickey.We also note plain dickies. Other had stripes. But striped dickies seem more popular in some European countries than the United States, although after World ar I we see mostly stripes. he dickies were often destinctive in the various countries where sailor suits were worn. Thus they can be helpful in determining the country of origin for unidentified countries.
Sailior suit dickies were commonly made so there was a double ply at the top around the neck. It was here that they got the heaviest wear. It is difficult to see this in most photographs because the neck band dickie was generally made with the same material as the rest of the dickie--just like a T-shirt. There was no practical purpose for these bands. They were entirely decorative. We have see a very small number of photographs in which the boys had dickies with destiinctive collar bands. We have been able to find very few examples of this which we believe is a good relectiion on the fact that these neck bands were not very common. We note one boy who had dots or stars on his collar band.
We see some of the same images used in both America and Europe. But there were differences and it is often to identify American boys from the dickey designs.
Some were removeable and others sewn in. There were several different ways of doing removable dickies. Many had a back strap and front button holes for buttons on the inside of the middy blouse. Boys might also wear T-shirt like garments, but this approach was more common in Europe than America.
Unfortunately it is usually not possible from portraits and other photographs to determine the type of dickey. The "T"-shirt type dickies which were comonly striped are often more obvious, but these seem less common in American than Europe.
The colors of the dickies could vary. Some matched the middy blouse while others were made in contrasting colors. The most elaborate designs seem to have been on thecdark dickies.
Middy blouses with removeable dickies were done to make the garment more flexible seasonally. They could be removed during hot weather and replaced for cold weather.
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