Figure 1.--This CDV portrait shows an unidentified boy wearing a stylish sailor suit and holding his hat. The portrait was taken by Caleton in Waterville, Maine. The portrait is undated, but looks like the 1870s to us.

HBC has realtively little information about sailor suits in America during the mid-19th century. Queen Victory helped establish the sailor suit as a style for boys in the 1840s. It was then that the Queen began dressing the young princes in the uniforms of an enlisted British sailor. We are not yet sure how rapidly it spread to America. We do know that it had become an enormously popular style by the late 20th century. The popularity of the sailor suit, however, began to decline in the 1920s as girls increasingly bgan wearing sailor styles. Fewer and fewer boys wanted to wear them by the 1930s, althoug they were still worn by younger boys.

Early/Mid-Victorian Era (1840-80)

The sailor suit for boys was not an instant success in America. I do not know of American boys wearing sailor suits before the 1840s and Queen Victoria began dressing the Prince of Wales in sailor suits. (HBC has done considerable research on Victoria and Albert and their family. We still do not know just who came up with the idea of te sailor suit, but we have collected a great deal of information on the clothes worn by the princes and princesses and their family life. See the Royalty Satellite Site.) Even after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert introuced the style it was for several decades little known in America. I am not sure just when sailor suit crossed the Atlantic and began catching on as a boy's fashion. Few images are available from the 1840s and even the 50s because of the relative rarity of photographic images. We habe noted few boys wearing sailor suits in available Daguerreotype portraits. Portraits were still quite expensive and catalogs just beginning to appear. HBC have not noted American sailor suits and hats in the 1840s and 1850s. In fact, boys clothes showing an influence of army uniforms, such as double-breasted jackets with rows of buttons seemed popular. Outfits with army stylistic touches were worn during the Civil War era (1861-65). We notice only a few sailor suits from the 1860s. We do, however, note quite a few boys wearing sailor suits in 1870s portraits. Suits styled just like naval uniforms from this period are relatively rare.

Figure 2.--This photograph was probably taken in the late 1890s. The boy wears a knnepants sailor suit with long stockings. Some sailor suits were made with long pants, but most were made with kneepants.

Late Victorian Era (1880-1900)

The sailor suit as a boy's fashion seem to have begun to catch on in America during the 1870s. But it was not until the 1880s that the sailor suit emerged as a principal boys' fashion. I am not sure just why the sailor suit became so popular in the 1880s, but several factors appear to have been important. The enormous popularity of sailor suits was due in part to the importance of English fashion trends. A new generation of royals was dressed in sailor suits and advances in publishing and reproducing images made it much easier for the general public to follow royal dress. Victoria's grand children wore sailor suits, but her great grand children, especially the children of George VI in the 1890s, wore virtually nothing but sailor suits. The emergence of the United States as a major naval power during the late 19th Century was another key factor. The Navy published details on naval uniforms in the 1880s. Vast improvements in naval engineering were being achieved in the late 19th century. Ships were being armored and steam engines were repacing sails. The growing power of the American nation was project abroad by the increasingly powerful, American Navy. It thus seemed to many parents the perfect outfit for their sons and daughters. Sukits based on actual British and American naval uniforms were the most popular, but quite a range of different styles appeared.

Figure 3.--White sailor suits became increasingly poular after the turn of the century. They were in the 1900s often worn with long stockings even in the summer. Note the wide-topped cap and strap shoes.

Edwardian Era (1900-1918)

American boys continued to wear sailor suits during the Edwardian period, following the turn of the century. The sailor suit was probably the most popular style for boys in the 1900s and only slightly less so in the 1910s. Younger boys might wear sailr styled tunics while older boys wore middy blouses with matching pants. Gradually knee pants began to be replaced with knickers and to a lesser extent shortpants. The white or light-colored sailor suits became increasingly popular after the turn of the century. I am not positive about this, but I believe some sailor suits began to appear in colors besides blue during this period. The age of boys wearing sailor suits started to decline, especially in the 1910s. They were still commonly worn by elementary-age boys to school and for dresup occasions. Wide-brimmed sailor hats continued to be worn for dress occasions in the early 20th Century. They were particularly popular in the 1900s. They were sometimes worn tuned down in the 1910s. Caps were more commonly worn, but unlike the wide-brimmed hats--only with actual sailor suits.

Figure 4.--This sailor suit by the 1920s in America had become primarily a style for younger boys.

Interwar and War Era (1919-1945)

Sailor suits were still commonly worn by boys in the early 1920s. Kneepants were still common, but by the mid-1920s were rarely seen. Boys pants styles shifted to knickers. Some boys still wore their sailor suits with long stockings in 1920, but by the middle of the decade boys were mostly wearing kneesocks. As sailor suits began to be worn increasinly by smaller boys in the 1930s, the came to be worn primarily with short pants rather than knickers. As a result, blur wool suits became less commonly worn and white sailor suits became much more common. Sailor suits were less commonly worn to school, except by the youngest boys. This was in contrast to Continental Europe, but not England, where boys up to 12 or in some cases even younger teenagers wore sailor suits--even short pants sailor suits.

Post War Era (1945-to date)

American boys after World War II no longer commnly wore sailor suits, but the st the style has never completely disappeared. There were some play suits for little boys with sailor collars during the 1940s, but these became increasingy rare by the 1950s. Some dressy sailor suits outfits for little boys are also worn. They are also sometimes used as attire for boys at formal weddings.

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Created: January 19, 2003
Last updated: 2:00 AM 4/1/2009