Figure 1.-- These unidentified Americasn brothers wear striped tunic suits. Notice the floppy dsun hat that the older boy is holding. The portrait is undated, but is printed on a postcard back. We would guess it was taken in the 1910s. A reader writes, "This image is also an example of the age range for tunic suits. The younger boy appears to be about 2 years old (near the youngest to wear one) while the older boy I would guess at 6 or 7 near the older range. Notice both boys wear identical hair cuts too." Good point, although HBC would guess the older boys's age at about 5.

While many boys did not wear headwear with their tunic suits, we note quite a range of different headwear types. Some tunic suits came with matching headwear, but no many except for the sailor styles. This was not the case for many suits. Boys mostly wore a variety of unrelatred caps and to a lesser extent hats. We do see, however, a number of tunics being sold with headwear. This was particularly the case of sailor tunics. As best we can tell, caps were more popular to be worn with tunics than hats. We see American boys shifting from hatrs to caps after the turn-of the 20th century. Some younger boys wearing tunics still wore hats, but even with these younger boys we still see caps.

Hats

The primary hats we note being worn with tunics suits were sailor hats or styles related to sailor hats like rounded-crown hats. The most associated hat style was the wide-brimmed sailor hat. The enormous popularity of R.F. Outcault's comic strip character Buster Brown helped to associated broad-brimmed sailor hats with tunic suits, both Russian blouses and sailor tunics. This may well have been more popular with cartoonists and other illustrators than with the general public. We do, however, see a number of boys weating these or similar hats. This was commonly seen in portraits more than family snapshots. One popular headwear was the floppy sun cap. This was a style related to the sailor swabbie style which is more commonly classified as a cap. This does not seem very common, but we have seen a few examples.

Caps

As best we can tell, caps were more popular to be worn with tunics than hats. We see American boys shifting from hatrs to caps after the turn-of the 20th century. Some younger boys wearing tunics still wore hats, but even with these younger boys we still see caps. This was not the case with illustrations, but it is suggested by the photographic record. This was particularly the case of sailor tunics. Often sailor caps were made in the same or cordinated colors. A good example is the floppy sailor cap worn by Ellis Gray Holden in 1908. The tunic suits were, however, were worn with many different types of caps. We have begun to ssess the different tyopes of caps worn. I think this was seen as more of a style for older boys. An exception was the darker colored tunic suits worn to school. We do not see it being worn, however, the popular flat cap which was becoming a standard for school age boys in the 1910s when tunics were very popular.

Created: 1:20 AM 7/7/2009
Last edited: 7:44 PM 2/28/2014