Figure 1.--A HBC reader has produced a colorized version of this 1920s British photograph. The colors chosen look quite reasonable to us, except for the lavender color. I'm not sure what color the sweater might have been. Perhaps our British readers may have some suggestions. One reader writes, "The colorization is very accurate. The sweater colour is a possibility. This was a colour for sweaters. The colourization makes it a pleasing picture. I would have thought it a genuine colour photograph."

Modern computers and programs like Photoshop allow old-photo buffs to colorize vintage images. These can produce very interesting images as to what the photographs would have looked like in color. We have tended not to use these images as we can never be sure about the accuracy, but the colorization often results in quite striking images. There are many standard colors that can give clues. Dark sailor suits, for example, are normally navy blue. Sandals are often redish brown. British school shorts are commonly grey. American school knickers were often brown corduroy. So the grey shades in the photographs a knowledge of fashion trends can help to produce very beautiful images. We hope as we develop HBC to compile information useful for such efforts. At best, however, these images should be considered educated guesses. They are also useful in discussing color.

Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Dresss] [Sailor suits] [Sailor hats] [Buster Brown suits] [Eton suits] [Rompers] [Tunics] [Smocks] [Pinafores]

Created: 9:42 PM 11/25/2007
Last updated: 9:42 PM 11/25/2007