German boys have worn a wide range of neckwear. We see boys wearing bowties, floppy bows, neckties, scarves, stocks, string ties, and other types of neckwear. While our information is limited, we have begun to collect some basic information on different types of neckwear worn by German boys based on images we have found.We do not have much information on the neckwear German boys have worn, but weare slowly building our archiveof suitable images. As far as we can tell, the neckwear German boys was basically the same as other European boys. There are a few noticeable German trends. First the scarves that boys wore with the very popular saolor suits were very destintively tied. It was a tight knot with a white cord. The scarfe was not allowed to hang loose. We also notice a wery wide red or green tie worn with Bavarian jackets and Lederhosen. String ties seem to have been popular in the post-World War II era.

Bowties

Bowties do not seem very common, but our information is still limited. We rarely see them before World War II. We do befin ti see them after the War, especially in the 1950s and 60s. Along with other types of neckwear, bow ties begin to become less common in the 70s.

Figure 1.--This CDV portrait by F. Weisbrod Nachfolger is undated, but was probably taken about 1890. Notice that is the boys and not their sister that are wearing floppy bows.

Floppy Bows

We see German boys in the late 19th and early 20th centuries wearing floppy bows. They do not seem as popular as in America, but the photographic recird shows many boys wearing them. We do not yet notice anyrging destinctive about the floppy bows in Germany. As in the rest of Europe, they seem to have been more a boys' than a girls' garment. Unfortunately because of the black and white photography, we do not know what color the bow was. We don't know if they were as popular as in the rest of Europe. The same of course is true as with other neckwear styles. Many of the German images we have show boys wearing floppy bows with Eton collars. A goof example is the boy here. Another good example is another portrait. We also notice boys on family outings wearing Eton collars with floppy bows. In some other countries we have noted floppy bows being worn with many other types of collars such as ruffled and lace collars. We are not yet able to fully assess German trends because of our still limited archive of images. Floppy bows continued to be commonly worn until World War I. We still notice some in the 1920s and even the early 30s. They were rarely seen by the mid-30s.

Narrow Bows

We notice boys in the 1860s-70s wearing narow bow. I'm not sure what the proper name is for these bows. A good example is a Bremen boy in 1873. with a fairly standard knot. These bows varied in colors. Some were stripped. The narrow width did not allow for other patterns.

Neckerchiefs

Boys commonly wore neckerchiefs for youth groups after the introduction of Scouting in the early 20th century. The scarve was not commonly worn by Wandervogel boys, but it was part of the Scout uniform. The Scouts were not as important in Germany as in the rest of Europe. Many Germans looked on the Scouts as too asociated with Britain. The neckerchief was a uniform item that the Hitler Youth took from Scouting, one of many such borrowings. As a result millions of German boys wore the Hitler Youth scarve in the 1930s and 40s.

Neckties

We first note neckties in the late 19th century. A good example here is a portrait of a boy in a Norfolk suit and Eton collar probanly taken in the 1890s. They do not become the dominant type of neckwear until after World War in the 1920s. We notice, however, in the 1920s and 30s the large white, open collar, often referred to as a sport collar, was particularly popular in Germany. Many boys wore this collar rather than a necktie, especially when going to school. Neck ties as in other countries became the principal neckwear type worn by German boys.

Figure 2.--We see many Germany boys wearing sailor blouses with tightly tied knots and often a white cord. This was a destinctive German style.

Sailor Scarves

Sailor suits and middy blouses were especially popular. They were commonly, but not always worn with a black scarve. This tie unlike the prevailing style in Britain and Ameruca was commonly ties in a very tight and distinctive knot. There was often a white cord with the knot. I assume this came from the prevailoing style in the German Navy. There are many examples of this on HBC. A good example is Herbert and Kurt Hender. Both boys and girls tied their scarves like that. Another good example is brother and sister. This was clearly the popular style in the 1920s. We are not yet sure anout the chronology of these knots. We have seen other knots and variations, but the tughtlt toed knot was very common with German boys.

Stocks

The stock was the dominant neckwear worn by men and to a lesser extent boys throughout Europe and America in the mid-19th century. Boys in the mid 19th century wore stocks like their fathers. We think there are images of stocks in Germany archived on HBC, but we have not yet been able to link them here.

String Ties

We have noted boys wearing folk costumes with string ties, but we note no destinctive German neckwear styles. One type of neckwear seems to have been especially popular in Germany. This was a kind of string ties with little balls or poms. We see younger boys wearing this style during the 1930s-50s. A good example is a German boy with his mother, probably in the early 1940s.

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Created: 3:40 PM 10/20/2004
Last updated: 10:26 PM 9/21/2008