Figure 1.--Here we see a fashionable young German family along the beach. We think this is a portrait taken by a boardwalk photographer. Mother is dressed like a moviestar. Day wears bermuda shorts and kneesocks. The boy wears a puffed sleeve blouse, dress suspender shorts, and what look like patent leather strap shoes. We are notbsure vhoe to date, probably about 1960.

Many outfits were not specifically beachwear, but rather popular syyles that were commonly worn at the beach. The sailor suit was a very popular garment for beachwear during the early 20th century. Boys of course worn many other outfits besides sailor suits. These styles varied over time, but almost all of our seaside beach images come from the 20th century. A German reader tells us about the image on the previous page, "The German group is tideland hiking. As the north sea has a lot of that it is rather popular. I did it myself. The man in the front is surely the guide. He guides them through the tideland telling them about animals, plants or what ever can be found in the tidelands. This picture was taken in Büsum in July 1907."After World War I especially by the 1930s increasingly became swimwear. We see a steady shift from formal wear to casual wear and play clothes as well as swimwear. We still note fasgionalble clothes, but not formal imnti the 1960s. This same trend occurred in other countries as well. We see fewer and fewer boys dressed formally for the beach, especially by the 1970s. Children were dressed for fun. That this not mean neesarily swimwear becauuse younger children were more likely to paddle in the shallows or play in the sand than to swim.

Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Sailor suits] [Sailor hats] [Buster Brown suits]
[Eton suits] [Rompers] [Tunics] [Smocks] [Pinafores]

Created: 11:29 AM 12/8/2020
Last updated: 11:29 AM 12/8/2020