著者

大枝 近子

出版者

目白大学

雑誌

目白大学総合科学研究 (ISSN:1349709X)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.2, pp.111-117, 2006

被引用文献数

1

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"Sailor suits" were popular as children's clothes from the late 19th century through to the early 20th century. I have attempted to throw light on the main factors underlying the popularity of this style of clothing with reference to an article that appeared in the women's magazine The Queen, published in Britain in 1861. I discovered the following factors as a result: 1) Sailor suits were popular because they hung loose on children's bodies and did not hem them in, reflecting the desire for children to grow up with sound and healthy bodies. 2) Amidst the strong orientation towards cleanliness at the time, sailor suits proved popular as everyday wear because the material could be washed. 3) Because they did not fit particularly close to the body, sailor suits were easy to buy the ready-made, and, for the same reason, they could be easily made by housewives once the stencils had been obtained. Having gained popularity on account of these factors, sailor suits came to exert a considerable influence on the emergence of simple, functional children's wear, the foundations for which were at last laid towards the end of the 19th century.