Figure 1.--These French boys wear traditional middy blouses with bloomer knickers. The cabinet card portrait is undated, but looks to have been taken about 1900. |
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The three basic garments most associated with the sailor suit were: headwear, a sailor-styled blouse, and matching pants. These three garments are the most commonly seen in the photographic record and thus were the basics sailor suit garments. The traditiional sailor suit was a scaled-down version of acrtual French naval uniforms. This meant a sailor cap with a destinctive pom or a brimmed sailor hat. The sailor headwear, especilly the sailor hat could be worn wih other outfits. Usually the blouse and pants matched. Some boys wore suits with a white blouse contrasting with dark pants. Sometimes the blouse and pants werea coordinated color. Some suits were made with jackets rather than the more traditional blouse. French boys wore both classic sailor suit blouses as well as many stylistic variations. The traditional middy blouse was a pullover, but some
were made to button up the front. There were many blouse or jacket styles in the late-19th century that buttoned up. French boys have wore long bellbottoms as well as kneepants and short pants. Knickers were also worn, but primarily the bloomer type worn by younger boys. A variety of other garmnens such as dickies and black silk scarves were also commonly worn with the middy blouse.
The three basic garments most associated with the sailor suit were a sailor-styled blouse and matching pants. These hree garments were the most commonly seen in the photographic record and thus were the basics sailor suit garments. The traditiional sailor suit was a scaled-down version of acrtual French naval uniforms. This meant a sailor cap with a destinctive pom or a brimmed sailor hat. The sailor headwear, especilly the sailor hat could be worn wih other outfits.
Usually the blouse and pants matched. French boys wore both classic sailor suit blouses as well as many stylistic variations. A variety of other garmnens such as dickies and black silk scarves were also commonly worn with the sailor blouse. The sleeves wwre mostly long, in part because French naval uniforms has long sleeves. We see Emile Jean Deschanel wearing a sailor blouse with short sleeves in 1913, but that was not very common. We do see boys wearing other blouses withbthese sleeves after World War I, but sailor blouses with short sleeves were less common. The traditional middy blouse was a pullover, but some were made to button up the front. There were many blouse or jacket styles in the late-19th century that buttoned up. French boys have wore long bell bottoms as well as knee pants and short pants. Knickers were also worn, but primarily the bloomer type worn by younger boys.
The various sailor garments and different colors were coordinated in a variety of ways. Some boys wore sailor suits with a white blouse contrasting with dark pants. Sometimes the blouse and pants werea coordinated color. Some suits were made with jackets rather than the more traditional blouse.
There wre also sailor coats for cold-weather wear. These coats were cut short even though the material is heavy weight. The short cut coats, some times called jackets, reflected the need for sailor to have warm jackets llowing freedom of motion on ships decks and rigging. Sailor coAts were called reefer jackets or pea coats. They were commonly done in double breasted styls, reflecting an innovation to help keep the chest warm on sailing vessels in cold weather and high inds. The coats could be worn with sailor suits, but this was not always the case and they were also wirn ith non-sailor outfits.
Hosiery and footwear were needed to complete sailor outdits. There were not specifically sailor styles for either.
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