Figure 1.-- This boy looks to be about 5 years old with his teddy bear. He wears a white sailor suit with dark stiping on the collar and cuffs and a plain middy at the neck. He wears long black stockings. Note the boy's glasses. I think this photograph was taken about 1922. |
Sailor suits were very popular in America as in Europe. They were, however, more commonly worn by younger boys in America. HBC has not yet fully assessed te ages from available catalogs. but believes that sailor suits in America were rearely made for boys older than 11 or perhaps 12 years of age. we have noted older boys in Europe wearing them. This subject should be relatively easy to research because catalogs like Wards and Sears as well as other companies normally indicated ages. We are working on a catalog section for HBC and will use this to develop this section. Our initial impression is that sailor suits were most common for children about 4-10 years of age. Sailor suits were one of the most popular styles for boys this age. This of course varied somewhat over time.
Boys this young generally did not wear sailor suits during the era that sailor suits were most commonly worn. Some young boys did wear sailor dressess. We do note very young boys wearing sailor styled outfits beginning in the 1970s, usually as a dressy style.
After World War I (1914-18) the sailor suit came to be worn by younger boys like this boy. This was in part because sailor dresses and middy blouses became so popular with girls. The boy here about 1922 looks to be about 5 years old (figure 1). This boy looks to be about 5 years old with his teddy bear. He wears a white sailor suit with dark stiping on the collar and cuffs and a plain middy at the neck. I'm not sure about the color of the cuff and collar detailing. It could be blue, but red is a possibility. He wears long black stockings.
We notice Harold Fitzroy-Carrington at about age 6 wearing a crisp white sailor tunic in 1904. We note a short pants summer suit worn in the 1920s.
We notice Harold Fitzroy-Carrington at about age 7 wearing a conventional sailor suit for play in 1905. We note a popular style for middy blouses in the early 20th century.
There is a famous portrait of the author Tom Wolfe wearing a dark sailor suit at age 7-8 in the early 1900s. We notice Harold Fitzroy-Carrington at about age 8 wearing a conventional sailor suit for play in 1906. We note a button-on short pants suit fora boy about 8-9 years old worn during the 1930s..
Another photograph of Harold Fitzroy-Carrington and the younger boys are all done up in white sailor suits for a birthday party in 1907. Harold was about 9 years old.
The sailor suit in the late 19th and early 20th was a popular school style for boys through about age 10, after this it became less common. After World War I the sailor suit became worn by younger boys usually up to about age 7 or 8 years old.
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