Figure 1.--Here Grand Duke George wears a velvet dress with extensive lace decoration (1872). The dress has a low neckline and a very high hem. It was worn with both skirted petticoats and lacy pantalettes. Given the age of the boys, it is likely that Nicholas wore similar dresses, although because of the age difference, not at the same time. Nicholas wears a velvet sailor suit with what looks like lacy wrist cuffs and back flap. The knee pants have a decorativev stripe, a common decoration at the time. Because of their age, the boys were not wearing long stockings, a type of hosiery that was very common in the 1870s for both boysv and girls.

We have some limited information on Nicholas' childhood clothing. He and his btother George wore fancy dressed when they were very young. The tywo were very close in age. One portrait shows George wearing a velvet dress with extensive lace decoration (1872). The dress has a low neckline and a very high hem. It was worn with both skirted petticoats and lacy pantalettes. Given the age of the boys, it is likely that Nicholas wore similar dresses, although because of the age difference, not at the same time.. Nicholas in the 1872 portrait wears a velvet sailor suit with what looks like lacy wrist cuffs and back flap. The knee pants have a decorativev stripe, a common decoration at the time. Because of their age, the boys were not wearing long stockings, a type of hosiery that was very common in the 1870s for both boysv and girls. These clothes were selected by Alexandr;s wife Dagmar. When the boys goy older the court probably took over clothes selection. We are unsure to what extent Alexander got inviolved in such matters. The boys commonly wore military uniforms, both army amd navy uniforms. Here we see Nicolas wearing a husar uniform. (figure 2). The choice of uniforms does not seem to be age related. European royals commonly began wearing sailor suits when they were young. Tsar Alexander's boys wore both army and navy uniforms even as they got older (figure 3). They seem to have changed from childish knee pants sailor suits to actual sailor suits at about 6 years of age. We do not know just when they began wearing civilian suits as our archive Alexander's family is still limited.

Created: 8:55 PM 9/17/2023
Last updated: 8:55 PM 9/17/2023