English Sailor Suits: Family Styles--Brother and Sister (1900s)
Figure 1.--This British half-penny postcardback portrait shows a brother and sister out for a park outing dressed in differently styled sailor outfits. They look to be about 8-11 years old. The headwear is especially interesting. The boy wears a classic broad-brimmed sailor hat. His big sister we are not entirely sure about, but would guess it was a large tam. The boys wears a jacket rather than a blouse sailor suit with knee pants. His sister wears a sailor smock frock with no defined waistline.
This British half-penny postcardback portrait shows a brother and sister out for a park outing dressed in differently styled sailor outfits. They look to be about 8-11 years old. The headwear is especially interesting. The boy wears a classic broad-brimmed sailor hat. His big sister we are not entirely sure about, but would guess it was a large tam. The boys wears a jacket rather than a blouse sailor suit with knee pants. His sister wears a sailor smock frock with no defined waistline. Both children wear black long stockings and low cut shoes. These are all fashions American children could have worn--except the low-cut shoes. American children mostly wore high-tops. This is not a studio portrait, but the professionl posing suggests to us that it is not a family snapshot. The bench suggests a park scene, although the tree trunk wall seems strange for a park. Perhaps a street-type photographer set up shop in the park. The portrait is undated, but we would guess was taken in the 1900s. We have seen this style of sailor suit referred to as admiralty jackets . We notice this reference in American catalogs. This may have been the same in England. British Admirals around the time of Napoleon wore jackets that are similar. They seem to have been prticularly popular around the turn-of-the 20th century.
