The choice of the Christmas postcard shown above, with two boys wearing sailor suits, was prompted by the Sepia Saturday 104 photo of Princess Marie-Gabrielle of Bavaria and her young son Prince Luitpold dressed in dark sailor suits.
Sailor suits were especially popular for boys around the turn of the twentieth century. The beginning of this fashion trend has been attributed to the young Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VII). He was shown dressed in a sailor suit in an 1846 painting commissioned by Queen Victoria. The painting, which is shown below, is from the Royal Collection.
Sailor suits were especially popular for boys around the turn of the twentieth century. The beginning of this fashion trend has been attributed to the young Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VII). He was shown dressed in a sailor suit in an 1846 painting commissioned by Queen Victoria. The painting, which is shown below, is from the Royal Collection.
The next two photos are from the Bain Collection and also show royalty. The first is of the Russian Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich (1904 – 1918) of the House of Romanov. The second photo is of the Crown Prince of Spain Alfonso, Prince of Asturias (1907 - 1938). Both boys suffered from the disease of hemophilia. The Tsarevich was murdered with his family during the Russian Civil War by order of the Bolshevik government. Alfonso died from internal bleeding following a traffic accident.
The last photo is of future U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt. The photo shows him wearing a sailor suit at age seven in 1889. This is one of several 1889 photos of Roosevelt in a sailor suit in the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum collection.
I love that FDR portrait as a young lad. Sailor suits are cute as buttons. My sisters and I had sailor-style dresses as girls, navy blue with white trim, pleated skirts, early 1960s. Now if only I could dig up a picture of that!
ReplyDeleteOH! How could I forget: FDR was also an assistant secretary of the navy before becoming prez years later, so that makes this picture of him doubly delightful!
ReplyDeleteA lovely thematic collection, tinged with sadness at the boy’s early (and violent) deaths.
ReplyDeleteLike Linda, I had a sailor-style outfit in the early 1960s as well. Interesting post!
ReplyDeleteI never wore a sailor suit but my elder brother went to war in one WWII. Not photogenic at all at the time.
ReplyDeleteYour photos show just how popular the suits were.
Sailor suits were very popular. That's alot of sailor suits. Great post. I have a photo of my dad in one. I probably should have used that instead of a postcard of a pile of rocks. lol Thanks for sharing and thanks for visiting my crazy blog.
ReplyDeleteGreat collection of little princes in sailor suits.
ReplyDeleteOh this is a stunning card, the colors are just beautiful, and what a dreamy little boy....it's very fitting for this week's theme and for December!
ReplyDeleteYes sailor suits were always popular around the 40, 50 and 60s. I remember have a sailor color on may of my dresses as a little girl. Great post.
ReplyDeleteQMM
All those little boys are so cute in their sailor suits. I really enjoyed this post. Thanks, too, for your thoughtful comments on my blog.
ReplyDeleteKathy M.
I Never Knew The Origin of The Suits.All The Subjects in the photographs had stormy lives in stormy times ,so appropriate I suppose.......
ReplyDeleteWe both took the same theme! Great card and photos to illustrate the fashion. I've just started to watch an old BBC series on King Edward VII, and found other early photos of him that must have driven the fashion industry too, at least for other royalty.
ReplyDeleteI love when I find old shots of boys in the sailor suits. One of the first photos I ever bought was of a boy in a suit holding a heavy rope. It always made me laugh.
ReplyDeleteThat first post card is wonderful.
Such a hard life for those children. So sad. Thanks for sharing the sailor themed photos though.
ReplyDeleteI didn't participate in this Sepia Saturday, but boy am I glad I came by to look at your post. What a treat. I have a weakness for sailor suits and beautiful cards and history. I came to the right place.
ReplyDeleteGreat pics,
ReplyDeletebut I still think my photobooth pics didn't look too shabby either, given a little photoshop to repair the damages...
Tragic lives they had,
those royals...
:/~
HUGZ
Missed last week so I'm taking advantage of taking a peak at what I missed. Love those sailor suits!
ReplyDelete