Figure 1.--The boy here has an Eton collar and bow tie wiorn over a large colored collar. Notice the matching pocket and wrist suff trim. We believe that this would have been seen as a sailor style. We do niot have the chikldren's names. only initials EHS, MLS, and EJS--as best we can make out. The boy looks to be about 7 years old. We do have te date--October 1881. The studio was Hennah and Kent in Brighton. The studio was patrionized by the Prince of Wales, who spent condsiderable time in Brighton.

The sailor collar was one of the most iconic boys' styles. It is a broad collar with a rectangular back flap tappering to a deep 'V' cut front. Sailor colors were worn for about a crntury. These collars were also worn by girls who continued wearing them longer than the boys. The basic style of the collar was the same for boys and girls. The basic style was fairly standard althiugh the dimensions could vary somewhat. The traditional detailing on the collar was strios continued on the back flap. But there were a wide variety of decorative detailing including varied striping or no stripes at all. The stripe detailing varies in numbers positioning, a width. Many of the collars were the same color as the blouse, others were contrasting colors or different shades so they stood out. There might be stars on the back flap. As portraits were almost always taken with the children facing forward, we are most familiar with the 'V' front. But another part of the collar is the back flap, also usually detailed with matching stripes, odten with stars or other decices at the corners. These collars were worn with a detachable dicky to fill in the sace created by the iconic V front cut. There were different styles, but by far the most common was the V-front collar adopted by the Royal Navy. The other styles were basically standard pointed collars, often a little larger than normal. There was normally detailing that made them a sailor style. These were a small percentage of sailor collars, but because so msny boys wore sailor bluses, we have a number of examples.

Created: 6:10 AM 8/1/2023
Last updated: 6:10 AM 8/1/2023