Figure 1.--This unidentified American boy shows off his dog's litter. He has opened the buttons of his sailor jacket so that we can see that he is wearing a Russian blouse underneath. The four square Velox potcard is undated, but looks tohave been taken in the 1900s. Four square Velox postcards date from 1901-14. Notice how both the boy and mama pooch seem quite pleased with themselves.

We note one boy wearing a Russian blouse under his sailor jacket. This of course is not a dickey, but is is worn for the same purpose as a dickey. Russian blouses could be won as the side buttoning mean hat tere was unobstructed coverage around the neck lick a dickey. These presumably did not have embroidered designs. We are not sure how common this was as a way of covering the area between the "V" sailor collar. In most instances a boy in aformal portrait would have buttoned his sailor jacket, leaving no clue that he is wearing a Russian blouse underneah. A normal diuckie would not quite do for a sailor jacket. The We only found out about this concentioin when wee found a boy who had unbuttoned his sailor jacket in an infoirmal monment captured in a family snapshot. We suspect that it must have been most common with the jacket-type sailor jacket rather than middy blouses. Wearng it with a middy blouse would have meant wearing two vlouses. These sailor jackets seem most common in he 1900s. And we do note boys wearing Russian blouse-like colors with sailor jackets.

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Created: 3:05 AM 1/12/2010
Last updated: 3:05 AM 1/12/2010