Figure 1.-- This cabinet card portrait here is undated, but we believe it was taken in the 1890s. The family is unidentified, but the girls look to be about 4-11 years old. They all wear identical sailor blouses and hair bows. The studio was C. Pflanz in Linz.

The sailor suit was developed in Britain as an outfit for boys--Queen Victoria's young sons (1840s). The monarchy was capitalizing on the populatrity of the Royal Navy. But the outfits not only proved popular with royalty and aristocrats, but the public at large, especially the middle class. And sailor suits was spread to many countries without large navies or even no navy at all. The sailor suit became enormously popular in Germany, including Austria. The fact that the royal families throughout Germany adopted the sailor suit was a factor. Initially it was the boys that wore sailor suits, but the girls wanted in on the fun. A fashion dictum in modern times is that girls commomly wanted to wear boys' clothes, but boys had an aversion to wearing girls' clothes. We see girls wearing sailor outfits in Britain by the 1870s. We suspect that girls began wearing sailor suits in the German states including Austria at about the same time, although we do not yet have a large enough Austrian archive to defintively date it precisely. Austria-Hungary was a substamtial empire, but Austrai was a small part of it. This affected the size of the photographic record. And the girls continued wearing them to an older age. We see Austrian girls commonly wearing sailor outfits in the late-19th and first half of the 20th century. They of course wore skirts with their sailor outfits rather than pants. The sailor blouses in contrast could be identical. We see whole families wearing sailor suits, including the girls and boys. Notice that all the=girls here are wearing identical blouses (figure 1). In some families it was just the younger children. In others it was the whole family.

Background

The sailor suit was developed in Britain as an outfit for boys--Queen Victoria's young sons (1840s). The monarchy was capitalizing on the populatrity of the Royal Navy. But the outfits not only proved popular with royalty and aristocrats, but the public at large, especially the middle class. And sailor suits was spread to many countries without large navies or even no navy at all. The sailor suit became enormously popular in Germany, including Austria. The fact that the royal families throughout Germany adopted the sailor suit was a factor.

The Girls

Initially it was the boys that wore sailor suits, but the girls wanted in on the fun. A fashion dictum in modern times is that girls commomly wanted to wear boys' clothes, but boys had an aversion to wearing girls' clothes.

Chronology

We see girls wearing sailor outfits in Britain by the 1870s. We suspect that girls began wearing sailor suits in the German states including Austria at about the same time, although we do not yet have a large enough Austrian archive to defintively date it precisely. Austria at about the same time, although we do not yet have a large enough Austrian archive to defintively date it precisely. Austria-Hungary was a substamtial empire, but Austrai was a small part of it. This affected the size of the photographic record.We see Austrian girls commonly wearing sailor outfits in the late-19th and first half of the 20th century. At this time, all we can confiorm is that the sailor suit was extremely popular for girls at the turn of the 20th century in the 1890s and 1900s. We are not sure about the 1880s yet. We know girls wore sailor outfits in the 1910s and 20s, but they seem especially popular at the turn of the century. We still see girls wearing sailor suits in Austria in the 1930s, but not so much after World War II.

Age

And the girls continued wearing them to an older age, including many teenagers. .
Garments

They of course wore skirts with their sailor outfits rather than pants.

Families

The sailor blouses in contrast could be identical. We see whole families wearing sailor suits, including the girls and boys. Notice that all the=girls here are wearing identical blouses (figure 1). In some families it was just the younger children. In others it was the whole family. After the 1910s it was less common for thevwhole family to be dressed in sailor suits.

Navigate the Historic Boys' Clothing Web sailor pages:
[Return to the Main Austrian sailor suit page]
[Return to the Main Austria page]
[Middy blouse] [Sailor suits]
[Reefer jackets] [Sailor dresses] [Other sailor styles]
[Sailor hats] [The Royals] [Ring bearer/page costumes]

Created: 8:10 AM 1/15/2020
Last updated: 1:15 AM 7/27/2020