Figure 1.-- Here we see an unidentified German family. The children are all dressed in sailor suits. We do know that the portrait was taken in 1924. It illustrates the point that at least in some families, sailor suits were appropriate for all the offspring of a family from about 2-16 years of age. The age range varied somewhat over time. In this family snapshot the kids are lined up in the order of their seniority and physical height, making a pattern of conformity that could almost serve as an ad for the famous maker of sailor suits, Beyle. We take the ages of the children to be, in descending order about 15, 12, 10, 5, and 3 years.

Here we see an unidentified German family. The children are all dressed in sailor suits. We do know that the portrait was taken in 1924. The only majior difference besides the skirts for the girls is the one girl;'s lasrge hauir bow. The photograog illustrates the point that at least in some families, sailor suits were appropriate for all the offspring of a family from about 2-16 years of age. The age range varied somewhat over time. In this family snapshot the kids are lined up in the order of their seniority and physical height, making a pattern of conformity that could almost serve as an ad for the famous maker of sailor suits, Beyle. We take the ages of the children to be, in descending order about 15, 12, 10, 5, and 3 years. I wonder if the mother who dressed all her children so similiarly had a relative or husband in the navy and wanted to express her nautical enthusiasm to a great degree than most contemporary mothers. Perhaps this mother was just reflecting the popularity of the style to an unusual extent. Dressing children alike was fairly common in Germany duringvtge inter-War years, but by no means universal. We suspect, however, with so many children involved, especoally thevolder boy that something beyond fashion was involved. The three boys and the two girls all wear the customary long black stockings. For some reason the middle figure, the youngest boy, seems to wear a more flamboyant black blow on his chest than his siblings. This photo seems to refute our common sense of age-grading since all the children from oldest to youngest wears more or less the same clothing. The only important difference, as you can see, is knee trousers for the boys and skirts for the girls.

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Created: 7:16 PM 12/18/2010
Last updated: 7:12 PM 12/20/2010