Portret van een jonge vrouw in een matrozenpak c. 1860 - 1865

This is an undated photograph of a young woman in a sailor suit, made by an anonymous photographer. Portraits like this were often commissioned as keepsakes. The subject’s clothing, however, suggests the image participates in broader social and cultural trends. Sailor suits became fashionable for both boys and girls in the late 19th century, following the popularity of the British Royal Family dressing young princes in nautical outfits. Here, the institutional history of royal power intertwines with that of bourgeois fashion, as nautical styles came to signify both status and leisure. The image also resonates with the cultural history of photography. The rise of commercial portrait studios offered new opportunities for self-representation, and the sailor suit might have been a way for the sitter to signal modernity and cosmopolitanism. To understand this image further, historians can consult sources such as fashion plates, studio archives, and social histories of childhood. By examining these materials, we can better understand the complex meanings embedded within this seemingly simple portrait.