Figure 1.--This CDV pprtrait is undated, but looks to have been taken in the 1870s. The boy and photographer are not identified. Note that the boy had a regular pointed collar and not the traditional 'V'-front collar. Also note that he is very young. We are not ebntirely sure about the age conventions because our archive is somewhat limited, suggesting that the sailor style was still not nearly as popular was it swas to become. This boy seems to be wearing a sailor dress, although the image is indistinct.

We note American boys wearing variously styled sailor suits in 1870s portraits. The most notable aspect of 1870s sailor suits was the wide variety of the styling. Boys sailor suits styled just like naval uniforms from this period are not all that common, but we see some. And the standard "V"-front collars were not yet standard. We see some sailor suits done with regular collars or very small V-fronts. We do see a lot of stripes, even with non-V-collar fronts. Some suits even had the stripes on the pants as well. This of course was never seen on actual naval uniforms. The sailor detailing was normally done mostly on the blouse. But in the 70s we seem quite a few examples of sailor detailing on the pants. The boy on the previous page is a good example (figure 1). We see both knee pants and long pants. Bloomer knickers were less common. At the time knee pants were becoming standard for younger boys. Older boys wearing sailor suits usually wore long pants. A good example of sailor suits in the 1870s is the Webb children about 1875. The boys were living in Shanghai, China (presumably the international concession) at the time so their suits may reflect European (primarily British) rather than American styles. The boys wear elaborate sailor suits, but without the V-front. The stripe detailing was often quite bold and not done to replicate actual uniforms. We note both pull-over middy bluses and button-up jackets. We have not yet noted girls sailor outfits in America during the 1870s, but we believe they began to appear. The sailor suit seems to have been a style for relatively young boys rather than a generalized boy's style during the 70s, but we have found a few images of older boys wearing sailor suits. More than age, the sailor suit seems to have been a style for fashionable, well-to-do families most commonly in the cities. This may partially explain the wide variety of styling. Fashionable mothers wanted to put their fashion sence to work on their son's outfits. American boys almost always wore sailor suits with long stockings. Many of our photographic images are not dated. We can generally identify 1860s, 70s, and 80s portraits, but of course not precisely. It is difficult to differentiate late-60s and early-70s images and also late-70s and early-80s images. Readers should bear this in mind when looking at this section. Of course reader insights on the images are always welcome.

Popularity

We do note some American boys wearing variously styled sailor suits in 1870s portraits. Based on the photographic record, we believe that the sailor suit was a trendy style, increasing in popularity. We have found a number of images of boys wearing sailior-styled outfits, but they are still a fairly small number. Our assessment of the photographic record is only an indicator, but we think it is aly valid one and seenms ti be holding up as our archive gradually expands. Most boys did not wear sailor-styled outfits. It was still fairly limited and not a dominant style. They seem to be most ciommon in the large northeastern cities where fashion trends were set. We suspect Britain was the major stylistic influence. Sailor outfits seem less common in the smaller towns and cities.

Added Collar

The standard sailor suit had a V-collar. There were other styles such as a standard spread tip collars, but the V-collars were by far the most common. The children's sailor suits were based on naval unifiorms, but the styles were still not standardized in the 1870s. We note mothers adding an extra collar. commonly a kind of ruff. The sailor suit was basically a comfortable style for boys to wear in an era in which formality was the rule. Many mothers were not satisfied with simplicity of a basic sailor sxuit and added ectra bows and ruffles. These ruffs are a good example. We are nit sure how common this was, but we have found several examples in the photographic record.

Detailing

We note quite a range of sailor detailing when sailor suits begin to become more common in the 1870s. It was a new style and thus mothers used a lot of imagination about what a sailor suit should look like. Ready made clothing wa just beginning to becoe important. We believe that some of the suits we see were home sewn or ewn by individual seamstesses. We can not, however, quntify this. We do see ready-made suits oiffered in department stores. We do not see many suits with what we would now call traditional styling, but we we do see stripes being used in various ways in almost all of the sailor suits. We do see tree-stripe detailing, but this was just one of the varius ways that stripes were used. We also notice detauking using one and two stripe. The striping was often much more extensive and much bolder than we see subsequently on sailor suits. A good example is John Geiger, we think in early 1870s. Note the 'V'-collar was not yet standard, but we see quite a few of them . Many suits even had the stripes on the pants as well. This is something tht we do not see after the 70s. Stripes were very common and often very bold. Many outfits were done two- rather than three-stripe detailing. The stripe detailing came from actual naval unifiorms, but they wee not done to replicate actual Royal Navy uniforms.

Garments

We see various garments done as sailor suits. There seem to still be considerable variability. This is probanly ready made clothing was still just beginning to take hold. We do not yet know much about sailor headwear. We see sailor dresses for younger boys. There were also a few sailor kilt suits, but they were not very common. Tunics were a popular garments in 70s, but we have not found sailor tunics. Most of the outfits we have found in the 1870s photographic record are sailor blouses and knee pants. The blouses were quite varied. We see both pull-over and buttoning middy blouses. The dickies were often white. Many boys wore a kind of bow tie rather than a ascarfe with their sailor suits. Long pants do not seem very popular for sailor suits. Nor do we see many bloomer knickers. The stripe detailing on the blouse was commonly continued on to the side of the knee pahts. The pants were normally knee pants. A good example is the Webb children about 1875. The boys were living in Shanghai, China (presumably the international concession) at the time so their suits may reflect European rather than American styles. The great majority of the sailor suits we have found are suits made with knee pants.

Gender

The sailor style was primarily a boys' style in the 1870s. We have seen some English girls wearing sailor styles. We have not yetm hiowever, noted American girls wearing sailor outfits during the 70s. we can not yet say that no American girls wore sailor outfis, but we can say that it does not appear to have been very common. The photographic record is probably a good inducator of popular styles, especially at for upper- and middle-class families. And we have a very substantial American archive. We do believe that some sailor style elements were beginning to affect dress styling even if actual sailor dresses were not yet very common.

Age

The sailor suit seems to have been a style for relatively young boys rather than a generalized boy's style. Most of the boys wearing sailor suits during the 1870s tended to be about 3-8 years old. Younger boys wore varied clothing. And with older boys, sailor suits were primarily wrn by boys from fashionable city families. We see a few boys as old as about 10 years wearing sailor suits, but rarely older boys. This would be the pre-school boys and the early primary years. We are, however, still assessing the age trends and hope to eventually have a more precise age assssment. Catalogs often provide age size indicators. We do not have, howevr, as much catalog information from the 1870s as we do for subsequent decades. So our age assesments or primarily estimates come from the prevalence in the available photographic record.

Demographics

We believe that the sailor suit style was a fashion largely confined to the fashionable big cities in the 1870s. Most of the images we have found come from cities rather than rural areas..

Hosiery

American boys almost always wore sailor suits with long stockings. Even younger boys commonly wore long stockings. Actually this is a helpful dating indicator. White stockings were very common in the 1860s and dark stockings were common by the 1880s The time lines here are difficult to develop because so many portraits are undated. In particular we see children during the the 1870s wearing dark stockings with with colored bands which we have called striped stikings. We see many different striped paterns and wethink colors, but this is difficult to asss from the black abdcwhite photoigraphy bof thec day. We believe that quite a rabnge of colors wer used and not just the blue abd white commonly used for sailor syuit. One might think that striped tockings were not as common with sailor suits gicen the striping used ion sailor suits, but this does nor seem to have been the case. The striped stockings are useful chonolgical indicator. We believe that they were most cimmon in the 1870s, but were still worn uinto the early-1880s. We rarely see socks. It was considered proper to cover the legs of both boys and girls, even younger children. We see white stocking in the 70s. We believe this was a carry-over from the 60s.

Dating Images

Many of our photographic images are not dated. We can generally identify 1860s, 70s, and 80s portraits. Clothing styles, poses, format, and other factors that are useful in identifying images. but of course not precisely. Ot is difficult to diffeentiate late-60s and early 70s images and also late-70s and early-80s images. While undated images can often nit be dated precisely, they still provide valuable data on period fashion trends. Readers should bear this in mind when looking at this section. Of course reader insights on the images are always welcome.

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Created: 6:34 PM 1/8/2010
Last updated: 10:41 AM 1/8/2018