Figure 1.--Here we see the styling on a French sailor blouse. We think thevCDV portrait dates to the 1870s. The suit had a back flap and stripes, but no V-front. Click on the image to see the entire outfit. |
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French sailor suit syles do not seem to have followed British Roiyal Navy uniform styles as closely as in some other countries such as Germany and the United States. Thus we see realatively few French sailor suits with traditional styling during this period. A factor here is that when sailor suits first appeared, clothes were still not mass produced. They were made by individual seamstresses. This made for many one-off outfits. Or outfits made in small numbers, this made for substantial differences in these earlyb suits, both in the design of the garmenrs and the decorations. We see suit both with and without the classic V-front bloue collar. Thevback flap was another popular feature. Most sailor suits feature stripe decorations. While most of the detailing wa on gthe blouse or top. Some outfits had decorted pants as well. We notice a stripe on the pants in the 1860s-70s and even the early-70s. Dickies commonly had horizontal stripes, a style used in actual naval uniforms. This began to change in the 1860s as mass production of clothing, including children's clphing expanded. Another factor may also be in part because French naval uniforms varied more from English styles than is the case in many countries. We see similar outfits, however, in both America and Britain during the 70s. Also clothing designers appeared to have experimented more with styling. This seems to have been the case with other garments as well. French boys'sailor suits diverted more from the traditional copy of the actual uniforms.
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