Figure 1.--This French boy in a Valentine Day post card wears a traditionally styled sailor suit. The card is dated around 1920. The boy still wears kneepants rather than shorts.
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Figure 1.--This French boy in a Valentine Day post card wears a traditionally styled sailor suit. The card is dated around 1920. The boy still wears kneepants rather than shorts. |
French boys have worn both classic, traditional sailor suits as well as a large number of sylistic inovations based on the classic styles. Sailor suits came in summer and winter versions. The summer version consisted of a white or stripped cotton middy blouse worn with white or dark trousers. The winter version was usually dark (blue or black) serge. The dickie and back flap often supported embroidered nautical themes and the sleeve might have a rank insinia. The sailor suit was often worn for every day activities. The most traditional outfit was the middy blouse, but some sailor suits had blouses which buttoned uo the front. In the 1890s sailor suits appeared in velvet and might be worn for more formal occasions. A new style appeared in the 1900s. It was called the quartermaster suit and was worn by boys and girls. This was a distinctively French It was a jacket rather than a blouse and was worn open over a stripped front that tucked into the pants. There were many other variations including tunic suits and sailor outfits with Fauntleroy styling.
French boys have worn both classic, traditional sailor suits as well as a large number of sylistic inovations based on the classic styles. Sailor suits came in summer and winter versions. The summer version consisted of a white or stripped cotton middy blouse worn with white or dark trousers. The winter version was usually dark (blue or black) serge. The dickie and back flap often supported embroidered nautical themes and the sleeve might have a rank insinia. The sailor suit was often worn for every day activities. The most traditional outfit was the middy blouse, but some sailor suits had blouses which buttoned uo the front. In the 1890s sailor suits appeared in velvet and might be worn for more formal occasions.
A new style appeared in the 1900s. It was called the quartermaster suit and was worn by boys and girls. This was a distinctively French It was a jacket rather than a blouse and was worn open over a stripped front that tucked into the pants--often kneepants. These suits are depicted in the 1900s catalog pages.
There were many other variations of the traditional sailor suit. One of the most popular was the tunic suit for younger boys. We see many boys wearing sailor-styled tunic suits in the early 20th century.
Even the staild sailor suit did not escape te Fauntleroy craze unschaed. Imaginative French mothers insisted on adding frills and lace onto the basic suits. Some were only slightly altered, some emerged looking more like Fauntleroy suits than sailor suits. These alterations were particularly common in the early 20th century. Many of the suits so altered wwre the tunic suits that younger boys wore.
Many of the destinctive features of French sailor suits were based on the uniforms of French sailors. Not all sailor suits worn by French boys had these destinctive features, but many did. One of the most destinctive feature were the soft caps with red poms. Another was the stripped dickey which was apparently a kind of "T"-shirt. I'm not sure if all stripped dickeys were in effect T-shirts, but that seems to have normally been the case. We do not have elaborate information about French naval uniforms, but we note sailors in the 1930s wearing these caps and stripped T-shirts.
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