Although the later 1920s had seen the middy relegated to activewear, sailor styles enjoyed a resurgence in the 1930s. The Telegraph Herald in 1934 declared nautical style "quite the newest Paris favorite [...] most attractive and so decidedly new".

Our story starts somewhere in the mid 19th century, when the four-year-old Prince Albert Edward (the future Edward VII) was dressed in a miniature sailor uniform for a trip aboard the royal yacht. The sailor suit became a perennial favourite for children's wear, and by the 1870s the nautical motif had made the transition into ladies' clothing.