Sailor suit
Encyclopedia
Only in the early nineteenth century, after the Napoleonic wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
, did governments start prescribing a standard uniform.
In the Royal Navy, the sailor suit or naval rig is known as Number One uniform and is worn by Able Rates and Leading Hands. It is primarily ceremonial, although it dates from the old working rigs of Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
sailors which has changed continuously since its first introduction in 1857 .
The blue jean collar is perhaps the most recognisable item of the sailor suit, and tradition says that it dates from the times when seamen wore tarred pigtails. This is in fact false, as the collar was not part of uniform until after pigtails disappeared . The three stripes have nothing to do with Nelson's three victories but was simply standardised to 3 when uniform was regulated. It is often considered lucky to touch a sailor's collar.
The bell bottomed trousers were designed so that they could be rolled up easily when scrubbing the decks. Ratings used to have either 5 or 7 horizontal creases and this did not represent the seven seas or five oceans but depended on the length of the sailor's leg.
The lanyard was originally used to fire the cannons on board ship. Later, a sailor would carry his knife with it.
In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, the first standard uniform was issued in 1817. Through government procurement, winter and summer uniforms were provided. White duck jacket, trousers and vest made up the summer uniform, while the winter uniform consisted of a blue jacket and trousers, red vest with yellow buttons and a black hat.
In 1846, the four-year-old Albert Edward, Prince of Wales
Edward VII of the United Kingdom
Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910...
was given a scaled-down version of the uniform worn by ratings on the Royal Yacht
Royal Yacht
A royal yacht is a ship used by a monarch or a royal family. If the monarch is an emperor the proper term is imperial yacht. Most of them are financed by the government of the country of which the monarch is head...
. He wore his miniature sailor suit during a cruise off the Channel Islands
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands are an archipelago of British Crown Dependencies in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two separate bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey...
that September, delighting his mother and the public alike. Popular engravings, including the famous portrait done by Winterhalter
Franz Winterhalter
Franz Xaver Winterhalter was a German painter and lithographer, known for his portraits of royalty in the mid-nineteenth century. His name has become associated with fashionable court portraiture...
, spread the idea, and by the 1870s, the sailor suit had become normal dress for both boy
Boy
A boy is a young male human , as contrasted to its female counterpart, girl, or an adult male, a man.The term "boy" is primarily used to indicate biological sex distinctions, cultural gender role distinctions or both...
s and girl
Girl
A girl is any female human from birth through childhood and adolescence to attainment of adulthood. The term may also be used to mean a young woman.-Etymology:...
s all over the world.
In several East Asian countries, some schools continue to prescribe sailor-themed wear as school uniforms (Sailor fuku) for girls. In Japan, it has become prominent within manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
and anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
- the most iconic example of this being the Sailor Moon
Sailor Moon
Sailor Moon, known as , is a media franchise created by manga artist Naoko Takeuchi. Fred Patten credits Takeuchi with popularizing the concept of a team of magical girls, and Paul Gravett credits the series with "revitalizing" the magical-girl genre itself...
series. Some Western cartoon and comic characters also use a sailor suit as their trademarks; examples include Popeye
Popeye
Popeye the Sailor is a cartoon fictional character created by Elzie Crisler Segar, who has appeared in comic strips and animated cartoons in the cinema as well as on television. He first appeared in the daily King Features comic strip Thimble Theatre on January 17, 1929...
, Donald Duck
Donald Duck
Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created in 1934 at Walt Disney Productions and licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit with a cap and a black or red bow tie. Donald is most...
and Spoilt Bastard.
Through the years, sailor suit has characterized the performances of the Vienna Boy's Choir all over the world.
When doing the Sailor's Hornpipe dance, a Highland character dancer is required to wear a sailor suit.