Figure 1.--Here we see three Buffalo, New York children, presumably siblings. We think the two older children are girls wearing sailor dresses. The child in the middle looks to be their yonger sister, but could be a brother. The portrait is a RPPC print. We would guess it was taken azny time during 1905-15.

The sailor suit was intially a boys style. It was created in Englnd and spread to America. As in England, it was initially a boys' style in America as well. Eventually girls began wearing sailor outfits as well. We see both dresses with sailor styling and sailor suits. The dresses were styled variously. Some had only a hint of sailor styling. Others had more obvioys sailor styling and we note sone traditionally styled drresses. The sailot suits could be the same as the ones worn by boys, only with skirts substituted for pants. We are not yet sure about the chronology here, but note girls wearing sailor suits (middy blouses and skirts) by the 1890s. We also note girls wearing middy blouses with bloomers for gym in high schools. Sailor outfits, both sailor-styled dresses and sailor suits were bery popular for girls schoolwear in the first half of the 20th century. By thi time oinly younger voys wore sailor schools. We see teenage girls commonly wearing sailor-styled outfits to school.

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Created: 2:25 AM 8/14/2008
Last updated: 2:25 AM 8/14/2008