Figure 1.--We were surprised to find this family cabinet card portrait with an older teen wearing a traditional sailor suit. We thought at first that he might have enlisted in the Navy, but we are not sure that the U.S. Navy had sailor collars with the detailing that the boy here is wearing. There is no information about the name of the family, ages or location. The boy looks to be about 16 years old. We woud guess the portrait was taken in the 1880s.

We do not see many American teenagers wearin sailor suits. Perhaps some younger teens wore them, but the phtographic record suggests that this was not very common. You can see that in the ages here for which he have linked pages. And this was the case at the peak of sailor suit popularity (1890s-1900s). We did not epect to find any older teens wearing sailor suits. Sailor outfits were popular for teenage girls, even older teens. But we do not see older boys wearing sailor suits. HBC has an extnsive American photographic archive and the photographic record clearly shows that the sailor suit was widely seen as an outfit for school-age boys, mostly pre-teens. We were surprised to find a family portrait with an older teen wearing a traditional sailor suit. We thought at first that he might have enlisted in the Navy, but we are not sure that the U.S. Navy had sailor collars with the detailing that the boy here is wearing. There is no information about the name of the family, ages or location. The boy looks to be about 16 years old.

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Created: 12:10 AM 3/18/2014
Last updated: 12:10 AM 3/19/2014