Figure 1.--Here we see an unidentified Illinois boy wearing a sailor suit. The portrait is undated. We wiuld guess it was taken in the early-1870s, but the larte-60s is possible. Notice the blouse has a double V-collar, onlt the top [art is ioen. Mother had added two bowswith plentu of striping all around. The stripe detailing is continued on the knee pants. The suit is worn with white lonfg stockings and high-top shoes. The studio as Bowman in Ottawa, Illinois..

The earliest sailor suits did not always have matching pants, although this was becoming common in the 1870s. We see sailor suits with both knee pants and long pants. We see the styling more on the knee panrs thn the long pants. Thee knee pants in the 70s were cut long generally at the calf and not the knee. Bloomer knickers were less common. At the time knee pants were becoming standard for younger boys, especially city boys. Older boys wearing sailor suits usually wore long pants throughout the 70s. Many boys wore sailor suits with knee pants which were becoming increaingly popular for younger boys. This probably reflects the age of the boys wearing knee pants. Long pants do not seem very popular for sailor suits, but we do seem some. Nor do we see many bloomer knickers. The stripe detailing on the blouse was commonly continued on to the side of the knee pahts. The sailor detailing was normally done mostly on the blouse. But in the 70s we seem quite a few examples of sailor detailing on the pants, often continuing the blouse dertailing.

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Created: 3:36 PM 1/8/2018
Last updated: 3:36 PM 1/8/2018