Figure 1.--Here we see a Christmas scene at home. The photograph is not dated, but the car styles on the box suggest the early 60s to us. We are not sure if the boy is wearing long stockings (which were made quite long at the time) or tights. A Reader writes, "It is rather difficult to tell, but I suspect the boy is wearing stockings rather than tights. Tights were becoming commercially available in West Germany during the late-50s/early-60s. Our writings from German readers inform us that most mothers preferred to stick with long stockings for boys because tights were much more expensive and because stockings could more easily be replaced if one stocking got damaged. This boy seems to be wearing informal clothes--play clothes or perhaps school clothes (he seems to be about 6 years old). The light tan color also suggests stockings--the dominant color for boys' hosiery in the 1950s and early 1960s. The tights I have seen from the 1960s tend to be dark brown or black, or perhaps white. Still, it is difficult to be certain." Click on the image for additional information.

There were major changes in German hosiery trends during the 1960s. As major changes were taking place, we still see a variety of hosiery. Ankle socks became the principal hosiery worn by German boys in the 1960s. We still see German boys wearing kneesocks during the 1960s, especially the early 60s. They were much less common by the late-60s. Knee socks were very common through the 1950s, but began declining in popularity during the 1960s, in part because short pants began to become less popular. Ankle socks were becomong increasinfly prevalent. We do not commonly see see long stockings by the 1960s in West Germany, although they were still worn in East Germany during the aerly 60s. Some younger boys beginning in the late 1950s began wearing tights during the winter instead of long stockings. Tights are still worn by younger children in Germany. Older boys also wear tights, but usually for winter sports. A British reader visited Germany in the 1960s. He tells us, "Maybe also most German boys preferred kneesocks with shorts as I did even out of school. You can remember that when I went to Germany I wore my school kneesocks (neatly pulled up and gartered!) with my sandals even in the height of Summer even though the German boy that I stayed with wore short socks with his but that may have been his Mum's choice. When we went to meet the Mayor he wore white kneesocks. (Which I found very odd!) So even there kneesocks seemed the done thing for formal occaisions. At home my Mum would have insisted on short socks with sandals out of school which I hated but then again she would not have allowed sandals for formal wear anyhow even though they were allowed at school - with kneesocks!"

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Created: 2:16 PM 9/9/2007
Last updated: 5:48 AM 6/27/2008