Figure 1.--This American boy wears a wide-brimmed sailor hat. These hats for formal wear at the turn of the century could be huge--even for small boys. The formal ones usually had long streemers. Note the wide colored band on the rim.
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Figure 1.--This American boy wears a wide-brimmed sailor hat. These hats for formal wear at the turn of the century could be huge--even for small boys. The formal ones usually had long streemers. Note the wide colored band on the rim. |
The photographic record provides numerous images of the hats and sailor suits worn by American and European boys. They do not provide, however, any indication of the colors of the hats, as the photography was all black and white. Presumably most were straw colored. Some of the paintings executed do show color, such as the image by the master of portrait painting, John Singer Sargeant. Even with black and white photographs, it is possible to tell that the classic broad-brimmed sailor hats were a different color (natural straw) than the blue and
white sailor suits with which they were worn. While most of the hats were natural straw colors, HBC notes that some had colored rims or a colored circle worked into the brim. We also notice hats where the strw seems to be varrigated colors.
The photographic record provides numerous images of the hats and sailor suits worn by American and European boys. They do not provide, however, any indication of the colors of the hats, as the photography was all black and white. Presumably most were straw colored. Some of the paintings executed do show color, such as the image by the master of portrait painting, John Singer Sargeant. Even with black and white photographs, it is possible to tell that the classic broad-brimmed sailor hats were a different color (natural straw) than the blue and white sailor suits with which they were worn. While most of the hats were natural straw colors, there may have been other colors. Here we just do not know.
HBC notes that some sailor hats had colored rims or a colored circle worked into the brim. I have not noted any written information about these patterns, but we have seen portraits showing these patterns. Here we see an example with an American boy wearing a broad-brimmed sailor hat around the outside tim of his hat (figure 1). We also notice hats where the straw seems to have been woven in varrigated colors, at least we seen dark and light sections. We are not sure about the cplors invplved. We assume it is dark brown or black, although we have no colored images to confirm this. We have noted these patterns in both European and American sailor hats.
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