Figure 1.--This boy is unidentified. We believe he is American, but we are not positive. It appears to be a postcard-back portrait. Thus we would date it to the late-1900s or very early-1910s before World War I (1914-18). He has longish hair, but not long curls. This is the only feature here that seems more European than America, but may reflect the date of the portrait. An American boy with longish hair beore 1905 probably would gave had riglets. The boy wears a white outfit, both the blouse and pants. This would have been the boy's summer outfit. Click on the image for fuller discussion.

The sailor middy blouse was generally speaking a plain blouse. This was in part one of its attractive features which appealed ti boys and the pracgical side of mothers. Some mothers, however, were less practical. They preferred non-traditional styling which might include added lace or ruffles. This was especially the case during the Fauntleroy craze era (about 1885-1905). This styling was also added to sailor garments or at least garments with sailor suts meaning the classic V-collar and rectangular back flap. We note two similar garments with a basic sailor cut, but with dded decoration. One was the basic sailor blouse. Here the decoration is sometinmes so extensive that the sailor cut does not a first jump put of you. It is sometimes lost in all the lace and ruffles and somrtimes large floppy bow. The fancy sailor cut blouses were most likely to be worn as blouses without jackets as they did not have a collar that fit nicely over a jacket. The other garment was a sailor styled tunic. This looked somewht like a fncy blouse but instead was a tunic. This was also an essentially plain garment that mothers decided to make more appealing by adding lace, ruffles, abd other decorative elements. These fancy sailot blouses and tunics seem particularly popular in A,etica and France, but the chronology differed somewhat.

Created: 2:44 AM 5/30/2012
Last updated: 2:44 AM 5/30/2012