Figure 1.--These unidentified German brothrs are dresed in identical dark knee pants sailor suits sailor suits complete with saucer caps. Brothers the same age were the most common use of the the sailor suit when dressing children identically. The CDV portrait is undated, but was probably taken about 1905. The studio was Atelier Victoria in Giessen.

While we see a few actual examples of all the children wearing sailor suits, more commonly we see age or gender differentiation. Sometimes both were factors, depending on the size of the family. Several families had all the children of an appropriatee age wearing sailor suits. The age seen as appropriate varied somewhat. In other fmilies it was only the boys or oly the girls wearing sailor sits. There was also some groups affted by both age and gender. Very often it was just the boys wearing matching sailor suits. We see huge numbers of such portraits in the photographic record. Less commonly we see all the girls wearing matching sailor suits. Nor nearly as common as for the boys, but it certinly was not unknown. In some cases the very youngest children were exempted. In other families it was the older children once beyond their early teens that were exempted. The loser the children were in age, the more likely they were to dressed in idential or corrdinate saikor outffits. The conventions and combinations varied from family to family.

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Created: 7:39 PM 3/18/2016
Last updated: 7:39 PM 3/18/2016