Figure 1.--Here we see two Chicaho brothers wearing identical sailor suits. Notice how mother has added rather uncomfortable stiff collars. The sailor blouses have front buttons. Their little brother has a Fauntleroy blouse. The portrait is undated, but the mount suggests that it was taken in the early-1900s. The portrait was taken in the De Wall's Studio in Chicago.

Many sailor suits in the 19th century were made with button fronts. The tops are still middy blouses in that they were not worn tucked in, but bloused over the top of the boy's trousers. Only after the turn of the 20th century do we see more pull-over blouses. The styling of these suits varied widely as they were the ones that often diverged from actual uniform designs the greatest such as the one here (figure 1). The buttons were sometimes used as a decorative device. But for the most part, the buttons were the same color as the suit and were simply a practical fastening decices and not decorative. Gradually by the turn-of-the 20th century the traditional style with three-stripe styling bevame standard. Detailaing was often elaborate and frequently diverged from the traditional three stripes. Part of the idea of a sailoe suit was a sinle comforatable outfit for a boy, but mothers being mothers we see bows a stiff collars being added. Many were also often worn with the colorful large bows that were popular at the time, rather than modest black sailor scarves. They were most commonly worn with knee pants. Unfortunately we often do not know what type of hat was worn with these suits. They were often worn with dickies or stripped undershirt. The suits were nmostly wool wool commonly matching the trousers. We don't see many of the light-weight cotton blouse, which were mostly pullovers, that were popular in some European countries. Only with the 20th century do we see many of these suits in America. They were usually worn with knee pants and long stockings.

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Created: 7:54 PM 8/2/2019
Last updated: 7:54 PM 8/2/2019