Figure 1.--Thus German boy in the 1950s wears a pair of dress shorts for Christmas. They were not suit pants. Dress shorts were still common at the time, although more boys began wearing long pants during the winter. |
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Probably the best known German short pants are Lederhosen. They were primarily worn in Bavaria. One German reader reports, "In the fall of 1933 a new student named Horst came to our third grade class and was seated at a desk across the isle from me. Horst had recently moved to our village. He lived in a duplex in a newer area, nothing like our homes which were old farmhouses. Horst was different. He didn't talk in the local dialect, he was Protestant, his father was a railroad official who had been transferred to our local station. In many ways his behavior and language were foreign to me. He dressed differently, wearing Bavarian lederhosen while I wore corduroy kneelength pants." [Maier] German boys still wore shorts in the 1970s and 80s, but they were increasinly seen as cassual summerwear. Denim shorts became a popular type of play shorts. Similar styles were worn in other countries. A British reader writes, "My denims shorts were maybe a bit longer, not much, and came from Marks and Spencers. I had a similar belt to the boy on left, wouldn't fit thru my shorts belt loops. I think you have to look at the width of a snake belt for that."
A popular type of short pants for younger boys, especially pre-school boys, is bib-front shorts. They were a variant of suspender and H-bar shorts. Both were more popular in Germany than bib-feint shorts. The bib provided the same function as suspenders and H-bar supports--to support the pants. Bib-front [ants, usually shots, are hust H-bar shorts with the bittom of the 'h' filled in. Boys do not have defined hips and thus need suspenders or belts to keep their pants up. Button-on shorts were another methods, Of these different alternatives, bib-front shorts seem the least common in Germany for some reason. They had the added functionality of protecting the short or blouse the boy was wearing. We see some examples, but not very many. We do not have enough images to develop any trends and conventions yet. We suspect tht by the 1870s the conventions that existed among different European countries as to bib-front shorts began to disappear.
Dress shorts are pants that could be worn for dress up occassions or for school. Unlike Britain there were no school specific school shors as there were no school uniforms. These were simiklar to suit pants, but were not bought as part of a suit. There were different weights for summer and winter wear. They were not woirn for play, although mother might use an older pair of dress shorts for pay wear. This was especially the case before the 1960s when boys did not tend to have large wardrobes. Many of the shorts boys wore before the 1970s were dress shorts
We have noted many German boys wearing H-bar pants. Most of the images we have noted are the younger boys in primary schools. A reader writes, "In Austria and Germany, H-bar pants were quite common. Beside the praticality of keeping the suspender straps in place, the style was influenced by the popularity of lederhosen. Many mothers were fond of the lederhosen style. Thus they also made suspenders style for wool pants as well." We have perhaps noted H-bar pants in Germany because we have a larger archive of images from Germany especially. Readers from Germany have been regular contributors to HBC. Currently we would say that H-bar pants in Germany while a common style, were less common than in Austria. There may have been regional differences in Germany. Here we do not have enough information to assess at this time. We note a German boy who we think is wearing H-bar shorts, prbably in the 1920s. We note a stylish German mother has all her three boys in 1939 wearing H-bar shorts. We note a German boy with his mother. probably during early 1940s. We note boys from the former royal family wearing H-bar and suspender shorts in 1952.
shorts became a popular type of play shorts. Similar styles were worn in other countries. A British reader writes in reference to an image of a German boy wearing jean.denim shorts posted on HBC. , "My denims shorts were maybe a bit longer, not much, and came from Marks and Spencers. I had a similar belt to the boy on left, wouldn't fit thru my shorts belt loops. I think you have to look at the width of a snake belt for that."
Probably the best known German short pants are Lederhosen. They were primarily worn in Bavaria. One German reader reports, "In the fall of 1933 a new student named Horst came to our third grade class and was seated at a desk across the isle from me. Horst had recently moved to our village. He lived in a duplex in a newer area, nothing like our homes which were old farmhouses. Horst was different. He didn't talk in the local dialect, he was Protestant, his father was a railroad official who had been transferred to our local station. In many ways his behavior and language were foreign to me. He dressed differently, wearing Bavarian lederhosen while I wore corduroy kneelength pants." [Maier] German boys still wore shorts in the 1970s and 80s, but they were increasinly seen as cassual summerwear. Denim shorts became a popular type of play shorts. Similar styles were worn in other countries. A British reader writes, "My denims shorts were maybe a bit longer, not much, and came from Marks and Spencers. I had a similar belt to the boy on left, wouldn't fit thru my shorts belt loops. I think you have to look at the width of a snake belt for that."
We first note short pants suits in the 1920s after World War I. Actually early short pants and kneepants suits were quite similar in that short pants at the time were only sligtly shorter than keepants. Short pants did not have the three button trim at the leg hem. In the United States and Britain the destinction between short pants and kneepants was more obvious because short pants were generally worn with kneesocks and kneepants with long stockings. This destinction was less useful in Germany where long stockings were much more common. Short pants suits were very common for boys in the 1930s, although the increasing importance of the Hitler Youth program there was somewhat less need for suits. (One effort of the HJ for example was to discourage family church attendance.) Boys often wore short pants suits to about age 14 when they began wearing knicker or longpants suits. This varies somewhat from family to family and some boys wore short pants suits beyond age 14. After World War II, Gemany was in a terrible state and few families had much money for clothing. Many German boys continued wearing their suits after they had rather grown out of them. Many boys srill wore short pants suits in the 1950s, often with sports shirts or with an open collar. Catholic boys common woreshort pants suits earily for their First Communions. By the 1960s, boys were increasingly wearing long pants suits, although suits were being worn less than before as German boys increasingly turned to more casual fashions. Boys over time wore different kinds of hosiery with short pants suits.
Maier, Louis. In Lieu of Flowers.
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