Figure 1.--This unidentified French boy wears a double breasted sailor top in the jacket style. The V-front collar and dickey are done in small white stripes. Notice the high collar. One of the attributes of the sailor blouse was a comfortable collar. Some mothers insisted om a more forml tighter collar. It was worn with knee pabts and dark long stockings. The portrait was undated, but we would guess was taken in the 1880s. The studio was Lereni in Bordeaux..

The three basic garments most associated with the sailor suit were a sailor-styled blouse and matching pants. These three garments were the most commonly seen in the photographic record and thus were the basics sailor suit garments. The traditiional sailor suit was a scaled-down version of acrtual French naval uniforms. This meant a sailor cap with a destinctive pom or a brimmed sailor hat. The sailor headwear, especilly the sailor hat could be worn wih other outfits. Usually the blouse and pants matched. French boys wore both classic sailor suit blouses as well as many stylistic variations. A variety of other garmnents such as dickies and black silk scarves were also commonly worn with the sailor blouse. The sleeves were mostly long, in part because French naval uniforms has long sleeves. We see Emile Jean Deschanel wearing a sailor blouse with short sleeves in 1913, but that was not very common. We do see boys wearing other blouses withbthese sleeves after World War I, but sailor blouses with short sleeves were less common. The traditional middy blouse was a pullover, but some were made to button up the front. There were many blouse or jacket styles in the late-19th century that buttoned up. French boys have wore long bell bottoms as well as knee pants and short pants. Knickers were also worn, but primarily the bloomer type worn by younger boys.

Headwear

The traditional sailor suit was a scaled-down version of acrtual French naval uniforms. This meant a sailor cap with a destinctive pom or a brimmed sailor hat. The sailor headwear, especilly the sailor hat could be worn wih other outfits. Although not always pictured with a sailor suit, the sailor hat or cap was an important part of these outfits. Thus we need to asess the headwear worn with sailor suits. This was particularly true in the 19th and early-20th century when wearing caps and hats was more common than is the case today. Weare not entirely sure as to the range of headwear worn with the outfits. French boys wore many kinds of straw hats with their sailor suits, including the traditional wide-brimmed style with ribbon streamers. They also wore an exclusively French style of cap, copying the hats of French sailors--soft white caps with red pompoms like the caps worn by French sailors. We do not have a lot of examples as our French archive is still fairly limited. This also limits our ability to assess chronolgical trends. We suspect that tams were worn, but we do not yet have examples to confim this.

Top

We note two types of sailor tops. One was a blouse tyoe top, Not all sailor blouses actually bloused, but they were shirt like garments, often in lighter material than the pants, but the main characteristic was the length, not extending much below the waistline. The other type of sailor top is the jacket-like top. These were doen in same material as the pnts nd were longer than the blouse, top extending below the waistline. The most important element of the sailot top was the destinctive sailor collar. Both the blouse and jacket-like type were done with sailor collars. The sailor collar had to featutes, thee V-front and the back flap. This was not the only collar style, but it was by far rhe most common and became the iconic sailor style.

Blouses

The sailor blouse was the single most important part of the sailor suit. Most of the sailor styling was on the blouse. You could buy the pants sepsrately as usually there was no detailong on the pants that needed to be matched. he classic sailor blouse had two destinctive features, both replicating the style set by the British Royal Navy for enlisted uniforms. They were part of the collar. First was the V-front and the second was the connected back flap. The detailing in the font collar normally was continued on the back flap and in some cases repeated at the wrist cuffs and or the waistline. The classic detailing was stripes (especially three stripes), but there were other ways of doing the detailing. We also notice stars on the back flap and various naval or national devices on the dickey or sleeve. The V-front styling was not the only syle of sailor blouses, but it was by far the most impotan The sailor blouses were normally done in navy blue or white, biy we also see a varirty of colors. The navy and white blouses were by far the most common, but the sailor suit was such a populr gasrment that many wrere also done in various colors. Usually the blouse and pants matched. French boys wore both classic sailor suit blouses as well as many stylistic variations. A variety of other garmnents such as dickies and black silk scarves were also commonly worn with the sailor blouse. The sleeves wwre mostly long, in part because French naval uniforms has long sleeves. We see Emile Jean Deschanel wearing a sailor blouse with short sleeves in 1913, but that was not very common. We do see boys wearing other blouses with these sleeves after World War I, but sailor blouses with short sleeves were less common. The traditional middy blouse was a pullover, but some were made to button up the front. There were many blouse or jacket styles in the late-19th century that buttoned up.

Jacket-style top

The other type of sailor top is the jacket-like top. These were doen in same material as the pnts nd were longer than the blouse, top extehdingbelow the waistline. The boy here is wearing a jacket-like top (figure 1). This type of top was common in the 19th century. Unlike many of the blouse types, the jacket-like top commonly buttoned up the front.

Pants

Usually the sailor blouse and pants matched. French boys have worn a range of different pants and trousers with sailor suits. They oftenm but did not always match the blouse. We have seen long pants including bell bottoms as well as straight-leg knee pants and short pants. Knickers were also worn, but primarily the bloomer type worn by younger boys. The type of pants varied chronologically. and ovr time there were also age conventions. Bloomer knickers were very common at the turn-of-the 20th century. Generally the plants were plain, but we have seen pants with detailing, primarily during the 1870s. Some of the pants were done with button-on styling. This also varied by age and chronologically.

Created: 5:57 AM 11/10/2014
Last updated: 5:57 AM 11/10/2014