Figure 1.--This postcard back portrait shows two English brothers wearing identical double-breasted suits knee pants suits. All we know about the boys is tht they were from Durham. They look to be about 7-8 years old. Laid over the top of the suit is a white sailor collar which covers the jacket lapels. Within the stamp box is printed '908'. We think that means the portrait was taken in 1908. The postcard was sent as a Christmas card.

The sailor collar from the beginning was primarly an attached collar, although we do see some pin on examples. The sailors that first produced the sailor collar sewed it on to their blouses. The sailor collar appere at bout the same time as the detachable collar. It is clear that most sailor collars were attached collar. This was the case of the vast number of middy blouses worn by boys throughout Europe and North America. The sailor blouse became a staple of boys' wear and was adopted by girls as well. And the vast number of these grments had attached sailor collars. While it is difficult to tell even from the ample photographic record, but there were sailor collars that look to be laid upon a variety of outfits. And this was not only various sailor garments like jackets and coats, but non sailor garments like regular suit jackets. Both the attached and detachable collars as far as we know always had the back flap. While these are a rekatively small proprton of sailor outits, we see plenty of examples in the photographic record.

Created: 5:54 PM 10/20/2016
Last updated: 5:54 PM 10/20/2016