Figure 1.--This German boy wears a square open Russian blouse with short pants. The image is undated, bit HBC would estimate about 1930. Note the sandals. They suggest that this was a photograpg taken in the pre-NAZI era.
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Figure 1.--This German boy wears a square open Russian blouse with short pants. The image is undated, bit HBC would estimate about 1930. Note the sandals. They suggest that this was a photograpg taken in the pre-NAZI era. |
The Russian blouse style was popular in Germany at the turn of the 20th century. While HBC has only limited information, the style with the open square collar appears to have been the most popular. It was used for a variety of different outfits, but seems to have been primarily a style used in informal play outfits. The Russian blouse style appears to have been a particularly popular style in Germany, but was worn in other European countries as well. It appears to have been a style as the name suggests which originated in Russia. They were often worn with short pants. HBC begins to notice these garments at about the turn of the 20th century. The tunic or Buster Brown suit style worn by American boys appears to have been less popular in Germany.
The Russian blouse style was popular in Germany at the turn of the 20th century. HBC begins to notice these garments in Germany at about the turn of the 20th century. We have notice the style appearing in France beginning in the 1860s. It may well be that German boys were wearing Russian blouses before the turn of the century as we have so little 19th century information on Germany. The tunic or Buster Brown suit style worn by American boys appears to have been less popular in Germany.
There are basically two kinds of Russian collars. One is a collarless gasrment, but worn around the neck with a buttoned collar. The other style was a comfortable open collar with a square cut. While HBC has only limited information, the style with the open square collar appears to have been the most popular.
It was used for a variety of different outfits, but seems to have been primarily a style used in informal play outfits. They were often worn with short pants. French boys sometimes wore Russian collar garments with above the knee knickers as American boys did with tunic outfits like Buster Brown suits. German boys more commonly wore Russian blouse outfits with knee pants or short pants.
The Russian blouse style appears to have been a particularly popular style in Germany, but was worn in other European countries as well.
It appears to have been a style as the name suggests which originated in Russia. HBC at this time has only limited information on the origins of this style. Clearly the origins are Russian, but details on how the style was adopted in Germany are less clear. Did it come directly from Russia, or perhaps through Poland or even France. This subject requires further investigation. A note here. HBC has received occassional comments suggesting that history is more about wars or major events and that research on topics like fashion is largely inconsequetial. HBC believes that minor questions, such as how the Russian blouse style spread to different European countries offers some fascinating insights into the relationsgips and interactions between people that are often loss when dealing superficially with the wider sweep of events.
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