Figure 1.--Here mom for an outing has decked her boys out in identical white knee pants outfits. The photograph is undated, but was clearly taken in the 1910s, perhaps during World War I. The explosion of partriotic fervor during the War inceasd the popularity of the sailor suit. While the boys wear identical sailor suits, the headwear, hosiery, and shoe are different.

American boys continued to wear sailor suits during the Edwardian period, following the turn of the century. The sailor suit was probably the most popular style for boys in the 1900s and only slightly less so in the 1910s. Younger boys might wear sailor styled tunics while older boys wore sailor blouses with matching pants. Gradually knee pants began to be replaced with knickers and to a lesser extent short pants. The white or light-colored sailor suits became increasingly popular after the turn of the century. Sailor suits were still commonly worn by boys in the early 1920s. Knee pants were still common, but by the mid-1920s were rarely seen. Boys pants styles shifted to knickers. Some boys still wore their sailor suits with long stockings in 1920, but by the middle of the decade boys were mostly wearing kneesocks. As sailor suits began to be worn increasinly by smaller boys in the 1930s, the came to be worn primarily with short pants rather than knickers. As a result, blue wool suits became less commonly worn and white sailor suits became much more common. Sailor suits were less commonly worn to school, except by the youngest boys. American boys after World War II no longer commnly wore sailor suits, but the style has never completely disappeared. Girls still wore a range of sailor dresses. Girls might wear sailor dresses to school. They were normally not a dressy style. And we see some boys wearing sailor suits. There were some play suits for little boys with sailor collars during the 1940s, but these became increasingy rare by the 1950s. Some dressy sailor suits outfits for younger boys were also worn. We do not see them at school or even very commonly for church. We have so few images that we are not entirely sure just when they were worn and for what occassions. Here we have two ways of assessing trends during the 20th century. You can look at the various eras or look by each individual decades.

Eras

There are three eras in which sailor suits were orn during the 20th century. They inclide the Edwardian era (including World War I), the inter-war era, and finally the post-war era. We began doing this by eras because at first our image archive was limited. Eventually we created decade pages, but the era pages are still useful because thaey help bring out overall patterns. The sailor suitwas still a major fashion fior boys in the Edwardian period. During the inter-war the sailor suit declined in popularity and became a style fot younger boys. After World War II in the post-War era the sailor suit was still worn by younger boys in the 1940s, but by he 50s was no longer a common style. We do see some boys wearing sailor suits for special occasions like weddings. An sailor dresses continued to be popular for younger girls.

Decades

As HBC has expanded we have begun to created decade pages. The sailor suit was a major style in the early-20 century (1900-20). Large numbers of boys wore them. After World War I in the inter-ar and World War II (1920-45), the sailor suit gradually declined in popularity. It becane a garment for pre-school and very young primary (elementary) school boys. After World War II by the 1950s we no longer see nany boys wearing sailor suits. We thus have decade pages for only the first half of the century. We see a few boys wearing asilor suits after the 50s, but mostly for special occassions like formal weddings. We see some boys wearing sailor suits for First Communion in the early decades, but nomlonger by the 30s. This was common in Europe, but not in America.

Other Related Pages:
[Sailor suits] [Kilts] [Smocks] [Pinafores] [Sailor Hats] [Blouses]
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Created: 3:38 PM 11/12/2017
Last updated: 3:38 PM 11/12/2017