Figure 1.--Here we see two brothers wearing two styles of juvenile suits. The older brother wears a sleeveless middy blouse. The younger brother looks to be wearing a kind of Oliver Twist suit. We are not sure where theyb lived in America. The photigrapher was the Thomas Studio. The portrait looks to have been taken in the 1920s.

Most middy blouses had long sleeves. All 19th century and early 20th century middy blouses had long sleeves. This included the white summer suits made for warm weather. Short sleeves in general were not commonly wirn in the 19th century. We see short sleeves by the 1920s. We even notice some sleeveless middy blouses, but this was not very common. The great majority of middy blouses were long sleeves. Interestingly, girls for some time had dresses withshort or ballon sleeves, but the idea of men an boys wearing short sleeves were a 20th century phenomenon. It was considered inappropriate for men to wear short sleeves and boys fashions seem to have followed this basic trend. Boys were the first to wear short sleeves. Middy blouses were just one of the boys' garments that begun to be made in short sleeves. As part as this new freedom in dress for children, we even see sleeveless middy blouses. These new styles, sleeveless and short sleeved middy blouses were done for younger boys. These shortened versions seem a largely American style.

Long Sleeves

Most middy blouses had long sleeves. All 19th century and early 20th century middy blouses had long sleeves. This included the white summer suits made for warm weather. Short sleeves in general were not commonly wirn in the 19th century. This mean during the era that the sailor suit was most populr for boys, American boys wore long-sleeve middy blouses. The great bulk of the images we have found show boys wearing long skeeves.

Short Sleeves

We see short sleeves by the 1920s. The great majority of middy blouses were long sleeves. Interestingly, girls for some time had dresses withshort or ballon sleeves, but the idea of men an boys wearing short sleeves were a 20th century phenomenon. It was considered inappropriate for men to wear short sleeves and boys fashions seem to have followed this basic trend. Boys were the first to wear short sleeves. Middy blouses were just one of the boys' garments that begun to be made in short sleeves. As part as this new freedom in dress for children, we even see sleeveless middy blouses. These new styles, sleeveless and short sleeved middy blouses were done for younger boys. These shortened versions seem a largely American style.

Sleeveless

We even notice some sleeveless middy blouses, but this was not very common. We also see them in catalogs. The limited offerings in catalogs as well as the relativecrareity in the photographic record is probably a good reflection of the actul popularity.

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Created: 5:42 AM 1/28/2008
Last updated: 5:42 AM 1/28/2008