Figure 1.--This Finnish family had its photo taken during the 1920s. It ws taken in the contryside, but we are not sure they were a farm family. They dressed up for the photo. The two boys wore traditionally styled sailor suits. The boys look to be about 3-5 years old. The girl wears a print dress. All the children are barefoot.

Finland became iundependent at the end of World War I and the beginning of the Russian Revolution (1917). Thus we see Finnish children moving away from Russian fashions and more toward Scandinavian and German fashions. We no longer see Russian peasant tunics as were common in the early-20th centuyry. We see quite a few boys wearing sailor suits especially when dressing up. We also see boys wearing long short pants held up by suspenders. Quite a few boys wore long pants. Here the rural origibns are probably a factor. The styles are very similar to Germany abnd Scabdinavia except that Finland adfter several centuries of Russian rule was not as prosperous. The country was still quite rural and many available images show farm families. Thus the children are often not dresses very fashionably.

Rastaan Family (1920s)

This photograph shows the Juho Rastaan family from Rautu, a village in the southern Finland. The family photograph is undated, but looks to have been taken in the early-1920s right after Finland became independent from Russia at the end of World War I. Rautu is a village near a lake. One of the boys looks rather dapper in his homberg and long pants suit. His little brother wears a long pants sailot suit. The sailor suit is interesting, because they were generally not as common among farm families as with city families. b bThe children, except for the dapper boy, and women went barefoot.

Unidentified Family (1920s)

We note an unidentified family duting the 1920s in a village near Keuruu (central Finland). It shows a grandmother with her many grandchildren. It seems that the two younger boys are wearing jackets without any shirt. That seems rather unusual. We suspect that their mothers told them to put on the jackets for the photograph. The younger boy seems to be wearing a tunic. That was a style that began going out of style after World war I. A reader asks, "Is the boy on the right wearing strap shoes? How old would you guess he was?" Yes he is, although we see them more as summer sandals, albeit a children's style. Rather unusual for a boy in long pants. He looks to be 16-17 years old to us.

M�kinen Family (1920s)

The M�kinen family looks more like a rural family. They lived near Keuru during the 1920s. The mother's scarfe was commonly worn by rural peasant women. The mother's name was Julia. We do not know the children's name. Note the boys' varied hair styles.

Unidentified Perni� Family (1924)

This Finnish family is unidentified. We do know that they lived in Perni� (Western Finland) and that the photograph was taken during the summer of 1924. It is a young family living in a rural area, presumably a farm family. There are five children and given the age of the children we suspect that several more children will be added to the family in coming years. The boys wear sailor suits which probanly was not common with Finnish farm families befiore World War I and independence. The girl wears a nondscript dress. All ther children except the babies are barefoot, as was common in Finland. The boys have close cropped hair.

Unidentified Family

This Finnish family had its photo taken during the 1920s (figure 1). It ws taken in the contryside, but we are not sure they were a farm family. They dressed up for the photo. The two boys wore traditionally styled sailor suits. The boys look to be about 3-5 years old. The girl wears a print dress. All the children are barefoot.

Heinhosten Family (Late-1920s or early-30s)

All we know about this photograph is the name of the family. We know the Heinhosten family is visiting the grandparents. It looks like several grown children of the eldely couple. Perhps it is a family reunion. There look to be only two actual children, a teenage girl ahd a younger brother wearing a plain short pants sailor suit without the usual stripe detailing. They look like a small town family. The boys bangs also look more like a city or town style than a rural style. The photograph is undated. We suspect, in part because of the long hemlines that it was taken in the 1920s, probably the late-20s. The early-30s is also possibile.

Related Style Pages in the Boys' Historical Web Site
[Long pants suits] [Knicker suits] [Short pants suits] [Socks] [Eton suits] [Jacket and trousers]
[Blazer] [School sandals] [School smocks] [Sailor suits] [Pinafores] [Long stockings]

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Created: 9:30 PM 4/17/2010
Last updated: 7:02 PM 5/28/2011