Figure 1.--These unidentified German brothers had their portraitv standing in a row duting 1925. It was a postcard back portrait. They look to be avout 3-13 yeats of age. The only difference is the shoes and hosiert. The younger boys wear high-top shoes and the older boys strap shoes. Here the strap shoes were probably worn for formality.

The most frequently used outfit used for dressing children identically within a family was without doubt the sailor suit. This was especially the case in Germany. The sailor suit was enormously popular in Germany, espdecially for boys but wa also widely worn by girls. This it could be used for dressuing all the boys alike and also the girls if so desired somply by substituting a skirt for the oants. . This convention was common from the 1890s through the 1930s. The sailor suit was emensely popular during this period. Earlier it was primarily worn by younger boys, but by the 1890s we see younger teenagers wearung saiior suits as well as girls. The sailor suit declined slightly in piopularity during the 1930, but was stull wudely wirn. And we see examples offamily photographs with the children done up in sailor suits throughout this period. We seem to see the most German familes with sailor suit clad chikdren in th 1920s, but that is just our initial asessment.

Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Introduction] [Activities] [Biographies] [Chronology] [Clothing styles] [Countries] [Girls]
[Bibliographies] [Contributions] [FAQs] [Glossary] [Images] [Links] [Registration] [Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]

Created: 8:34 AM 10/25/2013
Last updated: 8:35 AM 10/25/2013