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Finnish boys as far as we can tell wore the same garments as other European boys, especially Scandinavian and Russian boys. Our Finnish image archive is still quite limited. We have seen some skirted garments. We note tunics in the early 20th century. We also note some sailor garments, a style that was especially popular throughout Sandinavia. We note a Tampere boy wearing a sailor suit, we believe in the 1890s. We do not yet know if there were any destinctive Finnish farmrnts or Finnish styling. We are unable to assess the various garments commonly worn at this time until we acquire some more images. Hopefully Finnish readers will provide both information and images to help build this section.
We have seen some skirted garments. It was cpommon throughout Europe for yonger boys to wear skirted garments in the 19th century. We assume conventions were similar to Sweden and Russias, although we are not at all sure which was the more important influence. Dresses were very common, but there were other skirted garmments that were worn. We do not yet know much about the skirted garments worn in Finland, both the types of garments and the prevalence. We note tunics being worn in the early-20th century.
We also note some sailor garments, a style that was especially popular throughout Sandinavia and other countries which have influenced Finnish fshions, especilly Russia and Germany. The fact that they were a popular style in Russia and Germany were very important fashion influences. We know that middle-class urban boys wore sailor suits in Finland. We note a Tampere boy wearing a sailor suit, we believe in the 1890s. Another example is a Finnish boy vout 1930. The styles sem very similar to those we see in Saandinavia. Wht we do not know is just how common the sailor suit. We believe it was not all that important in rural areas among the large part of the population involved in farming. This is, however, just our prelinimary assessment which we can not yet confirm becaue of our very limited Finnish archive.
Many parents chose to dress their children in identical or similar outfits. There are many different approaches here. Sometimes there were similar outfits for just the boys or just the girls. Some times there were similar outfits for certain age groups, usually the younger children. And in some cases all of the children. In some cases the outfits ere similar rather than identical. We notice nothing specifically Finnih about this, we see this in many other countries. We do not yet know just how common this was in Finland. And of course Finland only became indepedent of Russia at the end of World War I (1918). Before this there would have been first a Swedish and then a Russian influence. We are not sure independence affected this fashion trend. Our Finnish archive is still fairly limited which means we do not yet have enough images to make any real assessment.
We see Finnish children wearing the same kind of footwear that was common in he Baltic area. Rural children were somewhat different. They very commonly went barefoot in the warm summer weather. Of course during the cold winter this was not possible, but it was very common in the countryside. To what extent it affected city children we are not sure, but it was less common. It seenms to have been more common in small towns and villages. This was in part an economic matter. Finland until after World War II was a relatively poor country. And because of forced ties with the motibond Soviet socialist economy did not recover from the War as fast as Western European market-based economies. Going barefoot was not enirely a sign of poverty. We noticed children going barefoot in Finland during the summer well into the post-War era when Finland was able to ease away from the Soviet hold and participate more fully with the burgeoning economy of Western Europe. A reader has provided a village smnapshot and tells us, "This photo was taken during summertime 1959 at a kindergarten in Ylöjärvi, in the Pirkanmaa region of Finland. Going barefoot was and still is quite common for Finnish children during their brief Summer season."
Related Chronolgy Pages in the Boys' Historical Web Site
[The 1880s]
[The 1890s]
[The 1900s]
[The 1910s]
[The 1920s]
[The 1930s]
[The 1940s]
[The 1930s]
[The 1940s]
[The 1950s]
[The 1960s]
[The 1970s]
[The 1980s]
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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