Figure 1.-- Here we have a white sailor tunic. These white tunics seem to have been very popular for summer wear. We believe it is the tunic part of a tunic suit, but the pants are lost. The pants were probably white bloomer knickers, but knee pants were also worn. There is some embroidered white detailing on the back flap and sleeve, but this is difficult to see on the white suit. Click on the image to see the back of the suit.

The tunic was commonly worn by American boys at the turn of the 20th century. The two essential pieces were the tunic top and the matching pants. We believe it is the tunic part of a tunic suit, but the pants are lost. The tunic has a back sailor flap, black scarf, detachable dicky, and wide white belt. These white tunics seem to have been very popular for summer wear.

Tunic

Here we have a white sailor tunic. It has the traditional "V" front and back flap. These white tunics seem to have been very popular for summer wear. In some ways these tunic outfits it was similar to smocks worn by boys in France. The tunic was, however, worn by younger boys than was the case for smocks with France. The principal difference between a tunic and smock is that tunics were made as suits with matching pants, modt commonly bloomer knee-length knickes. Smocks on the other hand were made to cover a child's clothing and there was no attemp to match a smock with the cloths being covered. This particular tunic was being offered for sale without the matching bloomer knickers. We assume that they once existed, but have since been lost.

Scarfe

All good sailor outfits had scarves. These were normally dark scarves, even the sarves for white suits. The scarfe was attached on one side with a metal clasp. I gues that was to make sure that the boy did not lose it. It has a white string tied at the center and I am not sure how it would have been attached at the other end. I think this was for tieing up the scarfe.

Dickey

The tunic had a detatchable dickey which as often at the time referred to as shield. I think it was called a shield because it often had an embroidered decoration. It buttoned into place. The dickey gave the tunic a more dressy look. The tunic could be worn without the dickey for play in hot weather. Most portraits being formal show the boys wearing the dickies. Here we can se how they buttoned on in an actual tunic suit. The dickey buttoned togerger at the back of the neck. Two button holes at the front were used to secure the dickey to the inside of the tunic. This would have had to be secured before the boy pulled it over his head. This was not how all the dickies worked, but the available imasges show us how yhis one worked. We suspect it was a fairly common appfoach.

Belt

The tunic has a wide cloth belt. Many tunics had these belts, although it is wider than what we have seen on most tunics. These belts were purely decorative. They might be done in contrasting colors or in the case of this tunic a mastching color with the tunic itself.

Pants

The pants were probably white bloomer knickers, but knee pants were also worn.