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The V-collar was the major stylistic feature of the sailor suit. Sailor suit detailing depends on the style of the sailor or middy blouse and this is primarily based on the collar. The best known sailor collar is of course the V-collar. The standard sailor blouse was the V-front middy blouse with a striped detailing on the collar and back flaps. This is the blouse style that comes to mind when most people think of middy blouses. There are, however, other options including plain V-collars. There are also other collar types, although they were less common. The detailing varied depending on the collar type.
The standard sailor blouse was the V-front middy blouse with a striped detailing on the collar and back flaps. While stylish, the open sailor collar was comfortable to wear. This is the blouse style that comes to mind when most people think of middy blouses and sailor suits. Detailing elements of middy blouses varied. The most common was certainly stripes. Some blouses did not have stripes, but the stripes were very common. The number of stripes varied. The basic three stripes were by far the most common, but the number of stripes could vary. Traditional suits, meaning the outfits most closely following naval uniforms, had three stripes. The three-stripe stripe detailing is a Royal Navy style adopted by the U.S. Navy. Some American blouses had stars added to the corners back flap. This was a specificically American innovation. White suits normally had dark blue detailing and colored (mostly blue) suits had white stripes.
There were blouses that were done in other styles, but they were less common. There were middy blouses that did not have the standard V-collar. The most common here was middy blouses with ordinary but often large pointed collars. We see some of these in the late 19th century and we think the very early20th century. Our information here is somewhat limited because the style was less common. They did not normally use stripe detailing. Stars were often used. The V-front middy blouses were much more common.
Sailor Suit Country Related Pages:
[Return to the Main U.S. middy blouse detailing page]
[Return to the Main U.S. middy blouse page]
[Return to the Main U.S. individual sailor suit garment page]
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