Figure 1.--This cabinet card portrat shows an unidetified American boy wearing a sailor styled kilt suit. He looks to be about 4 years of age. It is not dated, but we would guess it was taken in the 1880s. Notice the classic wide-brimmed hat. We are not sure what the color of the suit was. It is a blouse suit done with what was becoming traditional styling, but with two rather than three-strip detailing. We can't see the dickey, but notice the two bows. The kilt skirt looks to be done with box pleats. The studio was A.S. Holmes in Albany, New York.
We also see various stles of sailor-styled kilt suits. We notice quite a few sailor-styled kilt suits in the photographic record. Sailor styling was one of the most popular styles for boys by the 1880s. We first see them in the 1870s, but they do not seem to be very common until the 80s. The sailor suit was most popular for school-age boys, but the kilt suit was mostly for pre-school boys. Thus we see quite a few sailor-styled kilt suits in the photographic record. It was not the most common style of kilt suit, but we see quite a number. Sailor suits appeared before Fauntleroy suits, but both became a major style at about the same time in the 1880s. The klit suits became stylish in numbers earlier, during the 1870s. We notice an endless variety of sailor styling. The major contant, however, is that the sailor-styled kilt suits were done with blouses rather than jackets. The sailor styling was all done with the blouse. And these blouses followethe stylistic trens at the time. As far as we can tell, they were standard sailor blouses not specifically designed to be worn wih kilt-skirts. We do not see sailor styling on the kilt itself, although the color and materialmmight match. They were not the only blouse kilt suits, but they were one of the most important. The sailor styling was varied because sailor suits were at first quite varied until the late-19th century, especially the 1890s when we begin to see mostly traditional styled suits. By this time the kilt suit was passing out of style. We have not yet noted any age conventions.
We notice quite a few sailor-styled kilt suits in the photographic record. The sailor suit was most popular for school-age boys, but the kilt suit was mostly for pre-school boys. And primarily miuddle-class families. They were much less common for wirking-class families, but of course working=class familes were less likely to have portraits taken. This is not to say that wirking-class families did not have portraits made. American workers were the best paid in the world. And they could foird portrairs, but for them it was a splurge, unlike middke-class oortraits for which th cost of a portrait was not iof any significance. Sailor kilts were a way of usung the popular sailor style for younger boys. We see numerous sailor-styled kilt suits in the photographic record. It was not the most common style of kilt suit, but we see quite a number. It is a little difficult to quantify the number. The most common style was the suit jacket style, but we would estimate that something like 5 percent of the kilt suits were sailor-style kilt suits. That may seem like a small number, but there were mabt different styles of kilt syits, so it is not an unimportsnt number. This is based on the sailor kilt images we hve archived on HBC. And we see not reason why our archive is not representative of overall kilt suit trends. And we point out that we have only posted a fraction of our archive on HBC pages. And we see many more of these sailor kilt suits than sailor dresses--at least sailor dresses for boiys. We are not entirely sure why, but suspect it was because the kilt suit was beginning to be seen as more appropriate for boys than dresses in the popular mind by the time kilt suit had become an important style for boys.
We also see various stles of sailor-styled kilt suits. We notice an endless variety of sailor styling. There were two basic styles of sailor kilts suits. The most common was the highly recognizable V-front blouse and back flap. These blouses were basically the same as the sailor suit blouses worn with knee pants. There wre a wide range of variations in detailing, cut, and color. The other styles is less recognizable to us today and relied more on stripe detailing with a traditional collar. Sometimes stars appeared. While not easily recognizable today, we believe that in the late-19th century these blouses would have been seen as a sailor style by fashion concious mothers. This style was more commonly done as a jacket rather than the blouse used with the V-front style. We see some sailor suits with pants done with these blouses, although the style was not nearly as populasr as the V-front blouses. The sailor styling was varied because sailor suits were at first quite varied until the late-19th century, especially the 1890s when we begin to see mostly traditional styled suits. By this time the kilt suit was passing out of style.
The two garments with sailor kilt suits were the sailor blouse and kilt. The major contant, however, is that the sailor-styled kilt suits were done with blouses rather than jackets. The sailor styling was all done with the blouse. And these blouses followed the stylistic trends at the time. As far as we can tell, they were standard sailor blouses not specifically designed to be worn wih kilt-skirts. We do not see sailor styling on the kilt itself, although the color and material might match. We do see some sailor styling on sailor suit pants, but we have never noted this on the kilt-skirts worn with sailor blouses. This seems to be the case with the boy here (figure 1). We are not sure if the outfit was bought as a ready-to-wear suit or mother bought the blouse and kilt separately. In the 19th century of course the garments might have been sewn at home, meaning matching material could be easly explained. We think, however, that this was probably less likely for sailor blouses with traditional styling. They were not the only blouse kilt suits, but they were one of the most important. While some of the sailor suit kilts matched the blouse. Many were done in diffrent materials, detailing, and colors.
Chronology
Sailor styling was one of the most popular styles for boys by the 1880s. We first see them in the 1870s, but they do not seem to be very common until the 80s. Sailor suits appeared before Fauntleroy suits, but both became a major style at about the same time in the 1880s. The klit suits became stylish in numbers earlier, during the 1870s.
Age
We have not yet noted any age conventions. The boy here looks to be about 4 years old. Most of the boys wearung sailor kilt suits look to be in the 3-6 year old range.
