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American boys commonly wore sailor suits in both the 1900s and 1910s, although I think that they were somewhat more common in the 1900s. We mostly see pre-teen boys wearing sailor suits. We see some younger teens wearing sailor suits in the 1890s, but that was less common in the 1900s. There were many different styles in the 1900s as there had been in the 1890s. There were a range of variations on the basic V-front blouse. We see traditionally styled suits that is styles based on the actual uniforms worn by American sailors. There were, however, many suits in the 1900s that did not have traditionally styled blouses. That means blouses that were not done with the classic three-style detailing. Boys tended to wear knee pants sailor suits in the 1900s, but they were also made with long pants. We also see knicker suits by the end of the decade. We are not yet sure how pants type varried during the two decades, but knee pants were most popular in the 1900s. We continue to see American boys wearing sailor suits with long stockings. There seems to be social class aspect to the sailor suit. They were popular with the well-to-do and middle class, less so with the working class. We see that very strikingly in photographs of the boys working in factories and peddeling. We are not sure why that was, perhaps it was just a matter that working-class boys could only afford one suit so it had to be the standard style. The Navy was much in the news during this period. The Navy played a major role in the Spanish American War (1898-99) and Theodore Roosevelt when he became president (1901) he gave considerable emphasis to the Great White Fleet, sending it on international tours.
American boys commonly wore sailor suits in both the 1900s and 1910s, although I think that they were somewhat more common in the 1900s. Prevalence in the photographic record is a good indicator of popularity or at least prevalence. Here school portaits are perhaps the best indicator as it is an automatically relative comparison. And while we see some sailor suits at school we do not see all that many, not nearly as many as e would uspect grom the photographic record.
We have a great deal of information on sailor suit age trends during the 1900s. Boys began wearing sailor suits at about 3 years of age. Often younger boys wore the sailor-styled tunic suits tht were cso popular during the decade. We mostly see pre-teen boys wearing sailor suits. We see some younger teens wearing sailor suits in the 1890s, but that was not very common after the turn-of-the 20th century in the 1900s. We are able to follow sailor suit age trends in some detail. There is a hige quantity of studio portaits and now family snapshots. This means we have age informatiin not only on boys dressed uo for the photographer, but every day scenes around home. The 1900s is the first decade with huge numbers of damily snapshots. Not only is there a voluminous photographic record, but also many mail order catalogs durung the decade with age informstion that can be consulted. We do not see sailor suits in teen sizes. Many of the sailor suit offere are for boys ages 3-8 years old. We see some up to 10 years. We can also see age trends in school portraits. And this basic trend is confirmed in the photographic record.
There were different sailor garments done in many many different styles in the 1900s as there had been in the 1890s. The major garments were the blouse and pants. There were also jackets ad coats. Other items included headrawear and dickies, part of the blouse. We see traditional styles, neaning the styles more closely approxmating actual sailor uniforns becomong increasingly popular. Along with this trend we notice styles increasinly tending toward the basic three stripe detailing. There were , however still quite a variety of ailor styling as was still the case in the 1890s. Headwear varied. We see both has and caps being worn. Younger boys might wear wide-brimmed sailor hats. Older boys might wae caps. The saucer cap, actially useby the U.S. Navy was still worn, but going out of tyle by the end of the decade. We also see soft styles in bth white a dark colors, presumably navy blue. There were a range of variations on the basic V-front blouse. We see traditionally styled suits that is styles based on the actual uniforms worn by American sailors. There were, however, many suits in the 1900s that did not have traditionally styled blouses. That means blouses that were not done with the classic three-stripe detailing. The boys here wear examples of the varied styling seen during the decade (figure 1). A variety of dickies were worn with the blouses. A very popular style for younger boys was the tunic which reappeared as a major fashion trend. There were several styles of tunics, including the Russian blouse and the Buster Brown suit. One of the most popular ws the sailor tunic. Each of these was donein a wide rnge of styles and with varying detailing. American Boys tended to wear knee pants sailor suits in the 1900s, but they were also made with long pants. This was one of the few instances boys at the time wore long pants. They were commonly doine as bell bottoms. We also see knicker suits by the end of the decade. We are not yet sure how pants type varried during the two decades, but knee pants were most popular in the 1900s. We continue to see American boys wearing sailor suits with long stockings.
The sailor suit was a kind of all purpose garment. We see both drss up outfits and play suits. The 1900s is the first decade we ca make this comparison. The Kodak Brownie put the camera in the hands of most people, at least any middle class person so interested. Thus we see images around th home and not jut chilkdren dressed up for a studio portrait. We think it was more of a dress-up garment, but it was also used for play, perhapa in partwhen the suit at forst been worn for best. The sailor suit could be used for schoolwear, although we se fewer in school portraits thn we expected. We rarely see them in rural schools, but we do see some in city schools. In some cases several boys are wearing sailor suits. We suspect this was in schools located in middle-class neigborhoods. Schools with immigrnt children may also have had several children wearing sailor suits. One example is the Calvert School in Baltimore.
There seems to be social class aspect to the sailor suit. They were popular with the well-to-do and middle class, less so with the working class. We see that very strikingly in photographs of the boys working iun factories and peddeling. We are not sure why that was, perhaps it was just a matter that working-class boys could only afford one suit so it had to be the standard style.
The U.S. Navy was much in the news during this period. The Navy played a major role in the Spanish American War (1898-99) and Theodore Roosevelt when he became president (1901) he gave considerable emphasis to the Great White Fleet, sending it on international tours. The Navy was the only military branch on which significant spending was lavished. Unlike the European countries involved in an arms race, the United States maintained a very small army and severly limited spending.
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