Figure 1.--Here we see Prince Alexandr Ferdinand. He looks to be about 11 years old. Despite his father's uniforn, it would have been taken after World War I, probably about 1923. Sailor suits continued to be popular after the War.

We notice Alexander Ferdinand wearing a wide variety of outfits. He commonly wore sailor suits, but there were many other outfits that he wore. The omnly information we have is from the available photographs. It is difficult to make out the details of Alexander Ferdinand's outfits. We see him wearing a tunic outfit with blomer or knicker above-the-knee pants. We also see a Russian inspired Cossok outfit which suggest that the photograph was taken before Wotld War I began in 1914. He wears a wide-brimmed sailor hat with the brim bent up, a popular style in the 1910s. Alexander Ferdinand appears to have begun to wear more boyish outfits by at least 7-years of age. This photograph would have been taken only a year or two after the end of the War and the abdication of his grandfather, Wilhelm II. One interesting outfit shows him wearing knickers. They are not baggy knickers as they look more like keepants. But they are knickers as they are closed below the knee. He wears them with three-quarter length short white socks. This is a rather cirious outfit. I have seen few images of gashionally addressed biys wearing knickers with anklle socks. He also wears what looks to be a a rather large tie, cut off at the bottom, but it could be an untied bow.

Dresses and smocks

One image shows him wearing a smock or dress with heavy front smocking. He also appears to have worn colored smocks. I'm not sure what color they were, but they had heavy front smocking work and were worn with contrasting white belts--rather like the tunics he also wore.

Tunic

As a pre-school boy he worn tunics with above the knee bloomers. Another outfit was a kind of cossock tunic. Some of these tunics seem to have been play outfits. We notice others which look much dressier. One portrait shows him wearing a light-colored tunic with a lace collar. We have noted the other German royals wearing simular tunics. In fact it was a popular gament for the German royals. While tunics were commonly worn by the German royals, as far as we know, Alexander was the only one who wore them with a lace collar.

Sailor Suits

Alexander of course like other German royals, wore sailor suits at least during the later stages of World War I. I'm not sure hiw long after the War and his grandfathers abdigation that he continued wearing sailor suits. The image we have is a very traditionally styled, white button-on sailor suit (figure 1). He wears a soft white sailor cap which looks to be a replica of Kriegsmarina caps with a band or tally reads in part "Kaisle". I'm not sure if that was the name of a ship. As with many German boys wearing sailor suits, his scarfe id tightly tied in a knot with a small white tie securing it in place.

Other Outfits

Alexander also wore knicker-length pants with short socks about the time he began school. He also wore Lederhosen.

Created: September 10, 2002
Last updated: 7:32 PM 12/17/2004