Figure 1.--Here we have an American sailor in what looks like the 1890s with what we assume is his son. They wear identical suits. The only difference we see is the cap tallies. The sailor's tally reads "Uss Laka ... (perhapas Lackawana) and the boy's reads Hartford. The portrait was taken in Vallejo, California. Click on the image to see a more detailed portrait of the boy' s suit. |
The boy's sailor suit was first inspired by the Royal Navy enlisted man's uniform. Interestingly, the classic enlisted man's uniform first worn by the Prince of Wales in 1846 was a relatively novel invention because the Royal Navy had only just begun to regularize uniforms for enlisted men. Some attention had been given to officer's uniform for some time. Enlisted men until the mid-19th centurty, however, lacked uniformity and its
the style and even color could vary substantally the period and whim of the clothing contractor and vessel capatain. Even the blue and white convention is a realtively recent development. As the popularity of sailor suits spread to other countries, the uniform of their navies influenced the styles of the sailor suits worn in each country. Of course the British Royal Navy uniform stronly influenced naval uniforms worn around the world. Naval uniforms were not the only fashioin influence. We note both boys' and girls sailor suits that have very fancifal styling, far removed from actual uniforms.
The boy's sailor suit was first inspired by the Royal Navy enlisted man's uniform. Interestingly, the classic enlisted man's uniform first worn by the Prince of Wales in 1846 was a relatively novel invention because the Royal Navy had only just begun to regularize uniforms for enlisted men. Some attention had been given to officer's uniform for some time. Enlisted men until the mid-19th centurty, however, lacked uniformity and its the style and even color could vary substantally the period and whim of the clothing contractor and vessel capatain. Even the blue and white convention is a realtively recent development.
As the popularity of sailor suits spread to other countries, the uniform of their navies influenced the styles of the sailor suits worn in each country. Of course the British Royal Navy uniform stronly influenced naval uniforms worn around the world. One of the most obvious is the caps with red poms that French sailors wore. Modst counties had uniforms very similar to the Toyal Navy. The American unidorm and the sailor suits wirn by boys were strongly indluenced by Royal Navy uniforms.
Naval uniforms were not the only fashion influence. We note both boys' and girl's sailor suits that have very fancifal styling, far removed from actual uniforms. The sailor unifirms normally have "V" fronts with back flaps. We notice many sailor suuits with a very different treatment of the "V" front. We notice these variations in masny countries. Our initial impression is that they were particularly common in Germany.
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