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Belgian hosiery trends have generally followed those in France, although Flemish boys were also influenced by Germany. HBC still has very limited information on Belgian 19th century hosiery styles. We believe that long over the knee stockings were common, although like in France, not as common in America. This may have especially been the case in the winter. Three-quarter socks seem to jave been popular in the early 20th century, especially for younger children. Long stockings were worn both for warmth and as dress or formal wear. As with much else, we believe that they generally followed French styles. Kneesocks were commonly worn by Belgian boys, especially after World War I. They generally replaceclong stockings during the 1920s, although some younger boys continued to wear them for warmth during the winter. They continued to be worn after World War II, but began to decline in popularity during the 1950s. Boys in some private Catholic schools wore white kneesocks although I don't think that was common outside of school. Increasingly in the 1950s ankle socks became more common, especially during the warmer summer months.
Belgian hosiery trends have generally followed those in France, although Flemish boys were also influenced by Germany. HBC still has very limited information on Belgian 19th century hosiery styles. We believe that long over the knee stockings were common, although like in France, not as common in America. This may have especially been the case in the winter. Three-quarter socks seem to have been popular in the early 20th century, especially for younger children. We have less informnation on short socks. Long stockings were worn both for warmth and as dress or formal wear. Kneesocks were commonly worn by Belgian boys, especially in the 1910s and after World War I. We see boysweraing white kneesocks by the late 1920s. We have less information before the turn of the century. They generally replace long stockings during the 1920s, although some younger boys continued to wear them for warmth during the winter. They continued to be worn after World War II, but began to decline in popularity during the 1950s. Boys in some private Catholic schools wore white kneesocks although I don't think that was common outside of school. Increasingly in the 1950s ankle socks became more common, especially during the warmer summer months. One Belgian observer reports that boys there in the late 1990s are wearing their socks as close to their shoes as possible. He lives in Flanders where this style is reportedly very popular. He is less sure about Walonia (French speaking Belgium) and neighboring countries. The boys turn down regular socks but it's often difficult to see because they turn over their socks. It is mostly teenagers who wears them like that. I haven't seen younger boys wearing their socks so short. The fashion is extremely new! It started in Spring 2001. It's becomming very popular and they turn down their socks so far, you often can't see that they are wearing socks. Our Flemish observer also reports that teenage boys mostly wore white athletic socks in Flanders in former days (about 5 years ago). Now, athletic socks are still very popular but more and more boys are wearing colored socks (mostly blue, black ones) nowadays. He is unsure if boys in neighboring countries also are begimming tp wear coloerd socks.
Belgian boys have weorn a vaeiety of hosiery types. Long over the kneestockings were common in the late 19th century. HBC still has very limited information on Belgian 19th century hosiery styles. We believe that long over the knee stockings were common, although like in Frabce, not as common in America. This may have especially been the case in the winter. Three-quarter socks seem to jave been popular in the early 20th century, especially for younger children. Long stockings were worn both for warmth and as dress or formal wear. As with much else, we believe that they generally followed French styles. Kneesocks were commonly worn by Belgian boys, especially after World War I. They generally replace long stockings during the 1920s, although some younger boys continued to wear them for warmth during the winter. We see mostly dark kneesocks in the early 20th century, but we note boys wearing white kneesocks by the late 1920s. They continued to be worn after World War II, but began to decline in popularity during the 1950s. Boys in some private Catholic schools wore white kneesocks although I don't think that was common outside of school. Increasingly in the 1950s ankle socks became more common, especially during the warmer summer months. Many boys in rural Belgium wore wooden shoes before World War I. We are not sire what kind of socks they were worn with. Belgian boys never appear to have worn tights.
We are not sure at this time about differences between the Waloons and Flemish as concerns hosiery. We do note that more Belgian boys wore long stockings than French boys. There seems to be some similarity with Germany, although long stockings do not seem to be as common in Belgium as Germany. What we are unsure about at this time is if the boys wearing long stockings were mostly Flemish boys or if hosiery trends were basically the same throughout Belgium. We suspect that there were fashipn differences associayed with the linguistic/cultural divide in Belgium. This is difficult to determine because most of the available images do not identify the boys in the portraits and other photographs. Hopefully Belgian readers will be able to provide some insights here.
The regional divide in Belgium is essentially the same as the linguistic divide. Dutch (Flemish) is spoken in Flanders and French in Walonia.
We are not yet sure of the gender connotations of hosiery in Belgium. Here the boys wear dark kneesocks and their sister white three quarter socks (figure 1). We believe that the difference here may be more the result of age than gender differences.
We are not yet sure about the age connotations of hosiery in Belgium.
No information developed yet.
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