Figure 1.--The open-front jacket was a rather fancy, formal style that we note in the 1890s and 1900s. The sailor suit was a very versitile outfit. They could be worn for dressing up, formal occassions, school, and play. This suit was, however, a rather formal style. Notice the vest and for the 1890s relatively small bow in this caninet card. We get an idea of age range for these open-front suit. The younger boy was 8-years old and his older brother 11-years old. The photograph was taken October 23, 1899. The photigrapher was the Heinz Studio in Sharon, Pennsylvania.

We are not yet sure about the chronology of these open-front sailor suits. We primarily have notefd these formal open-front sailor suits in the 1890s and early-1900s. We are not yet enirely sure about the 1880s. We do not have a lot of dated examples, but the ones we have found are in this chronological range. Most of the portraits we have are undated portraits, but can be dated to the 1890s or early-90s because of the mounts or other clues in the images. This means we can roughly determine the decade, but not actual year. Thus we are not entirely sure yet if these suits were worn in the early-1890s. We have a few dated images which confirm the 1890s as the decade in which these suits were most prevalent. The boy on the previous page had his portrait taken in 1898. And we have found this portait dated in 1899. We are still working on the precise chronology for these open-front suits. Having only images from 1898 and 1899. Having only these two images so close together near the turn-of-the 20th century, however does not tell us much about trends during the ealy 1890s or the late-1900s.

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Created: 12:15 PM 10/11/2016
Last updated: 12:16 PM 10/11/2016