Figure 1.--Here we have a portrait of 4-year old Kurt Mahlke in 1900. The portrait was taken in Neustettin, Pomerania. Kurt wears a plain kneepanhts sailor suit, a popular choice for German boys at the turn of-the-20th century. |
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Here we have a portrait of 4-year old Kurt Mahlke in 1900.
The portrait was taken in Neustettin, Pomerania. Unfortunately that is all we know about Kurt. There are, however, some interesting aspects of his clothing. Kurt wears a plain kneepanhts sailor suit. The sailor suit was a popular choice for German boys at the turn of-the-20th century. Note the rather uncomfortable-looking high white collar that mother has added to the boy's sailor suit. The sailor suit was actually a rather comfortable style compared to many other alternatives of the time. This mother has apparently added a formal collar. I'm not sure if he always wore this collar or just wore it for special occassions. Also note the low-cut shoes. Kurt has a very short clipped hair cut, another popular style in Germany at the time. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this portrait is Kurt's patterened long stockings. German boys commonly wore long stockings. Much more common were plain black stockings. We note very few example of stockings like this. Many stockings were knitted at home, but these do not look like knitted stockings. They are much to sheer.
Although apparently store-bought they do not appear to have been very popular. A Germjan reader writes, "I can't remember having seen such stockings before. I don't think they were self-made at home. They look too fine." Kurt holds flowers for his portait so we see that also boys got flowers as props.
HBC
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Album1900
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