Figure 1.-- Here we see a Brussels brother and sister wearing identical sailor outfits in 1909. They look to be about5-10 years old. The outfits are identical except for the hats and the knee pants/skirt. Had thecboy been aittle younger, the hats could havevbeen identical as well. They are playing the diabolo top game (jeu jouet). At first we thought it was a commercial post card, but it was a portrait taken at the Spielzeug Foto in Brussels.

It was boys who first began wearing sailor suits. In fact we even know the first such boy--Prince Bertie, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's youngest son. He began wearing a sailor suit (1840s). We do not yet fully understand the chronology of the sailor suit in Belgium as our 19th century Belgian archive is limited. And we do not know when girls first began wearing sailor suits as well, although it was clearly in the 19th century. We would guess the 1870s. Girls in England were wearing sailor suits by the 1870s. It is likely that the chronology in Belgium was similar, prhaps a little later. We know much more about the 20th century. We know that Belgian girls were commonly wearing sailor suits at the turn-of-the 20th century. Here we have a good example in 1909 (figure 1). The styles seem very similar to French styles and suspect that the chronology was also similar. Sailor outfits continued to be popular for boys and girls in the early-20th century. But gradually declined in popularity after the 1930s. We do not see boys wearing sailor suits much after World War II (1939-45). Sailor styles have never totally gone out of style for girls, but boys did not commonly wear them to any extent by the 1950s. The one exception was First Communion outfits or perhaps formal weddings. Here only boys wore sailor suits. The one exception was First Communion outfits or perhaps formal weddings. Here only boys wore sailor suits. Girls wore junior wedding dresses for First Communions.

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Created: 6:00 AM 5/24/2017
Last updated: 4:57 AM 12/15/2017