Figure 1.--This illustration shows how an aristocratic German boy might dress in the 1620s. There were no dedicated children's clohing. This boy wore a smaller version of his father's outfits. Most notably you can see how the Renaissance hose have begun to evolove into breeches. The upper garment was called a doublet which was fastened with a row of buttons. Lace collars were popular. Notice how closely spaced the buttons are. Notice the wing features on the shoulders of the double. The doublet upper sleeves were panned, meaning vent-like features. The lower slleves were more tightly cut and ended with white cuffs sometimes done with lace matching the collar lace. the trunk hose were supported by ribbon points in the doublet. The Truk hose here are longer than worn in the 16th century or even the turn-of-the 17th century. They have begun to look more like knee birreches, but are still gatheered at the knee, In addition to the lace, notice the use of other decorative elemnts lik the sash garters and rosettes. Also notice the open-sided shoes. We are not sure if this was fashionable style or a matter of reducing the use of leather. The illustration is based on Van Dyke's work. Illustrator: Saber Alexander McConnell.

The 17th century is when modern male fashion began to evolve. Styles at the beginning of the century look very dated, men did not even wears garments regonizablee as pants and trousers. They wore the trunk hose that were the principal male garment in the 16th century. By the end of the decade we see recognizable jackets and trousers. The jackets were long and the trousers knee breeches, but they were clearly recignizeable jackets and trousers, the main stays of what became modern dress. There were no destinctive children's clothing. Younger boys might wear dresses. After breeching, boys wore small versions of the clothes their fathers wore. At the time, social class was more a determinant of clothing than natiionality. The aristocracy throughout Western and central Europe wore very similar syles, often set in Italy and France. We see a variety of ornate styles and decorative trim and luxurios fabrics. The peasantry wore much simplier clothing often homespun fabric. Is at this time that what we now call ethnic or folk styles began to develop. As peasants did not commonly travel beyond their local communities, these styles gradually developed destinct local characteristics. We still see some of the earlier fashions at the beginning of the century such as doublets and hose, often called trunk hose. This was s pants-like garments done as balooning garments that only came to mid-thigh or higher and worn with long stockings covering the leg. The trunk hose were very common in the 16th centurty, but in the early-17th century first began to increase in length and then evolved into breeches which by the end of the century began to look like the knee breeches commonly worn in the 18th century. This evolution occurred with both the clothing worn by adults and boys. The clothing of the aristocracy is much better represented in the available art work than that of the lower classes.

Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Introduction] [Activities] [Biographies] [Chronology] [Clothing styles] [Countries] [Topics]
[Bibliographies] [Contributions] [FAQs] [Glossaries] [Images] [Links] [Registration] [Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]

Created: 6:05 AM 11/19/2011
Last updated: 6:05 AM 11/19/2011