Figure 1.--This postcard-back photograph dates to circa 1910 just before World War I. It was taken on a beach near Deauville, a seaside resort on the Côte Fleurie of France’s Normandy region. It is just to the east of where the Allies landed on D-Day. The photograph shows a group of middle-class ladies with a group of young children. This photograph has been fully captioned to the back and sent as a letter, written by the woman who is standing on the right, who identifies herself as Annie Askew. She is writing to her mother, presumably in England. She names the woman on the left as her chaperone and describes her first experience of swimming in the sea and swallowing sea water. She gives an address for the woman on the left in Deauville. Click on the image to see the message on the back.

Interest in seaside vacations began in Britain and gradually spread to the Comtinent which had quite a few beaches. The coming of the railroad and the wealth ctreated by the industrial revolution brough a sea side vaction within the ability of the middle class. All of this came together at about the same time that the sailor suit emergd as a popular outfit for boys and eventually girls as well. And of course nothing seem more appropriate for the seaside than a sailor outfit. Thus sailor suits were one of the most popular seaside styles for boys by the late-19th century, especially white or light blue suits. Striped suits were especially popular when white suits were not worn. Boys especially younger boys did not swim at the seaside. The might play in the waves, but wadinf in the shllows or even more imporanly plying in the sand was common. Thus sailor suits fit in well with what the boys were doing. They were also populr tire away from the beach in seaside resorts. The sailor suit continued to be popular through the 1910s and World War I (1914-18). Unlike World War II, French and English beachs were safe places and continued to be used during World War I. The sailor suit began to decline in popularity during the 1920s. They were no longer widely worn by the 1940s. Of course by this time seaside vacations went out of style during the World War II German occupation (1940-44).

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Created: 3:40 AM 4/10/2018
Last updated: 3:40 AM 4/10/2018