Figure 1.--Gere we see a fmily in a small town with all but one girl wearing identical sailor suits in the 1930s. We are not sure why. It is possible she is a friend or cousin.

These German family photographs include both the brothers and sisters wearing sailor suits--the entire family. The sailor suit was seen as appropriate for boys and girls so it could be used to dress the entire family, although there were age constraints. Age considerations seem the primary considerations in these family portraits. With larger families dressing all the children in sailor suits, this was more complicated with greater age and gender diversity. But even so, we do see some large families with all the children wearing sailor suits as well. This was rather like the Trapp family in the "Sound of Music". It was not very common, but it was not rare either. In Germany boys might wear sailor suits up to about 16 years of age, alhough this was not common,. It was fairly connon for younger teens, boys 13 or even 14 years old. This wide age range meant that is was fairly easy to uutfir all the family in sailor suits. A factor here was that there was an even wider age range for girls. Sailor suits were age apporopriate for olders girls, but many older girls wanted to wear mre fashionable clothes. All of this meant that that for quite Germam chldren had a substantial age span during which many families could outfit all of the children in sailor suits.

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Created: 9:55 PM 4/5/2018
Last updated: 9:55 PM 4/5/2018