American Girl Sailor Outfits: Prevalence


Figure 1.--Here we see an unidentified Maryland classroom in 1900. Notice all the girls wearing sailor dresses and the varied styles. In this class only one boy wore a sailor collar and none wore sailor suits. Click on the image to see the entire class.

The sailor suit began as a style for boys. As soon as it became a popular style for the boys, girls wanted in on the style. We see girls wearing sailor outfits and they became inctreasingly popular for girls during the late-19th century. At the turn of the century, we see classes with several girls wearing sailor dresses and middy blouses. The sailor style had become more prevalnt for girls than boys. The sailor dress became the single most popular style for girls which can be assessed by its prevalence in the photographic record. The best way of assessing prevalence is looking at school portraits. As public schools became well established, school photography becomes an excellent way of assessing prevalence and other clothing trends. School photography was fairly limited during the mod-19th century, but by the 1890s there was a substantial photographic record. The increasing prevalence of girls wearing sailor dresses tended to reduce the popularity of the sailor style among boys. The sailor style would be extremely prevalebt for girls in the early-20th century, but we see fewer and younger boys wearing sailor outfits.






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Created: 9:15 PM 7/14/2017
Last updated: 9:15 PM 7/14/2017