Figure 1.--These unidentified children had their portrait taken we think in the 1900s, perhaps about 1905. They look to be about 3-6 years old. The girl wears a white ummer frock, large white hairbow, and white long stockings. Her big brother wears a clssic sailor suit with three-stripe collar detailing. The dickey has an embroidered anchor. We are not sure wht the black sleeve band means. He has matching knee pants worn with black long stockings, common at the time.

Knee pants during the 1900s contiued to be the primary trouser type worn by American boys into their teens. There were differences from family to family as well as demographic and social class differences. The photographoc recors is very substantial. The sailor suit continued to be one of the most popular styles for boys dring the decade, although we see fewer younger teens wearing them. And it seems as an incresingly middle-class outfit. Older boys wearing knee pants did not wear sailor suits. But the school-age boys wearing sailor suits, most wore them with knee pants. We mostly see sailor suits being worn with knee pants during the decade, although we begin to see kickers by the end of the decade. The Mineapols boy on the previous page is a good example of the knee pants sailor suits worn during the decade. He looks to be about 8 years old. Here we see a summer sailor suit. This boy is about 6-yers old. He wears a classic sailor suit with three-stripe collar detiling (figure 1). The dickey has an embroidered anchor. We are not sure wht the black sleeve band means. He has matching knee pants worn with black long stockings, common atthe time. It is a light-color suit, probanly light blue. There are many such examples on HBC. While some boys wore long pants with sailor uits, knee pants were by far the most commom choice which can be verified in boyh the photogrphic record and period catlogs.

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Created: 11:58 PM 6/19/2016
Last updated: 11:58 PM 6/19/2016