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Unlike some countries where sailor suits were popular, Belgium had no national navy of any consequence. HBC believes that Belgium fashions are basically a function of French fashions and sailor suits were enormously popular in France. Likewise they were extremely popular in Belgium. I'm not sure about the exact chronology, but at the turn of the century most Belgian boys had a sailor suit and commonly wore it. They were an extremely versitile garment They were often worn to school and for a variety of formal occasions.
HBC has little chrological information about Belgian sailor suits at this time. We believe the fashion time is similar to that in France. I'm not sure when they first became popular in Belgium, presumably about the same time that they became popular in France. We noye a lot of boys wearing sailor suits, but believe they were popular much before that. We know that the naval arms race began in ernest in the 1890s, but as Belgium was not a naval power, this may nothave been a factor influencing the popularity of the fashion. At the turn of the century most Belgian boys appear to have had a sailor suit and commonly wore it. They were still commonly worn to school by boys in the 1920s, but declined in popularity during the 1930s.
HBC believes that the styles for sailor suits in Belgium were similar for that in France. One exception may have been the suits, especially the caps with the red pom, styled on the uniforms for the French Navy.
The detailing on Belgian sailor suits appears similar to those we have seen on French and Dutch sailor suits. We note nothing destinctive about the detailing on Belgian sailor suits. There seems less variety in the Belgan sailor suits than we have noticed in Germany. The Belgian saiklor suits seem to be basically rather traditionally styled. The use of the basic three stripe detailing seems less common than we have noticed in America and Britain.
HBC is not quite sure just what age groups wore sailor suits in Belgium. We believe that the age range was comparable to that in France. We have no information on the 19th century at this time. We note both young and older boys boys wearing them in in the early 20th century. We also note even younger teenagers wearing them through the 1920s, although this became less common in the 1930s. After the 30s they were mostly worn by younger boys.
The sailor suit gaments were the same as worn throughout Europe.
The sailor caps commonly worn to those worn elsewhere in Europe. Flat top caps with streamers were popular in the early 1900s. Most boys who wore sailor suits would have a matching hat or cap. Many boys wore their streamers to the side for photographs, but we do not think this is how they normally wore their caps. Smaller boys wore broad-brimmed hats with streamers. Older boys wore caps more like the ones wore by sailors. After World War I, boys in the 1920s were less likely to wear sailor caps with their suits.
Many Belgian boys wore standard middy blouses. The boy hear wears a jacket with souble button rows, but held closed by a kind of tab on the top buttons. The standard three white stripes were common in the detailing as was a nautical motif on the dicky.
Most boys wore kneepants with their sailor suits in the early 20th century. After World War I (1914-18), short pants became more popular.
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Belgian boys wearing sailor suits had a wide variety of hair styles. These of course changed over time. Some boys had very short almost shaved hair, especially in the late 19th and eraly 20th centuries. Most boys wore short medium-length hair. This was especially true by the late 1920s after World War I (figure 1). Social class factors may be involved here. We suspect that boys from working class families may have been most likely to have had closse-cropped hair. The boys most likely to have been photographed in smart sailor suits, were probably boys from middle-class and more affluent families which more commonly had the medium length hair cuts we see in most of the available photographs. A few boys had long hair styles. We have not yet noted boys with ringlet curls. but this may because we have a limited number of images.
Most Belgian schools did not require a uniform. Sailor suits were, very popular for school wear at the turn of the century. Even after World War I in the 1920s, many boys wore sailor suits to school, although they were no longer the majority. The styles could be quite varied. By the 1930s, sailor suits were less popular, but in many classes a few boys still wore them.
Sailor suits were especially popular in the early 20th century. Most were dark suits, but we note some white suits as well. Most boys wore sailor caps with these sailor suits. We do have one undated photograph of a Belgian boy taking First Communion in an elegant kneepants sailor suit. I am not sure if it is black or navy blue. We would guess that the portrait was taken in the 1910s, perhaps before World War I. The sailor suit pictured here is a rather elegant one. It is worn with a matching soft top black cap. There is a jacket which buttons rather than a middy blouse. It is worn with a plain white shirt with clored detailing at the collar, rather like a dicky. Also notice he is wearing a white button front vest under the middy jacket and over the white shirt or dickie. It is worn with matching dark kneepants and long black stockings. He has lace-up shoes. He has white gloves and even a hankerchief in his sailor jacket. HBC rarely noted hankerchiefs being worn in sailor jackets. This suit was a dark suit, but we note white suits being worn in France during the 1930s-50s and the same was probably true of Belgium.
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