Figure 1.--Hee we see a cabinet portrait of two unidntified German children about 1905. We think the children are boys, but we are not positive. The younger boy wears a simple waistless dress. His older brother wears a sash at the waist of his dress.

We have only begun to develop a chronology of German skirted garments, We know nothing at this time about the the 16th-18th centuries. We believe younger boys wore dresses in this period, but do not yet have the information to corfirm it. Nor do we have information on demographic, regional, and social class trends. As far as we know, the only skirted garment worn was the dress, but we can not yet confirm that. We have some information on the 19th century. Our information on the early-19th century is limited, primarily because photography was not yet invented. Younger boys wore dresses throughout the 19th century. We have only limited details on the decade stylistic trends and conventions. Our preliminary assessment is tat dresses wer not as commony worn by boys in German as in some other European countries, but this needs to be confirmed. Germany did not become a united country until 1871. We suspect that that there were differences among the German states, but do not yet have details. We know that boys also wore tunics throughout the century. School age boys wore tunics inthe early part oif thecentury By bthe end of the century it was primarily pre-school boys. We are less sure about skirts, smocks and pinafores, but hope to gradually collect information. We notice a few boys wearing kilts in the second half of the 19th century, bit this seems to have been an upper-class affecttion, imatating British styles. We see fewer boys wearing dresses in the 1890s. Skirted garments declined in populasrity after the turn of the 20th century. Fewer boys wore dresses. An exception was tunics which were popular in the 1900s and 10s. We see little boys wearing basic pinafores for play into the 1930s. Smocks were rarely worn.

The 16th-18th Centuries

We have only begun to develop a chronology of German skirted garments, We know nothing at this time about the the 16th-18th centuries. We believe younger boys wore dresses in this period, but do not yet have the information to corfirm it. Nor do we have information on demographic, regional, and social class trends. As far as we know, the only skirted garment worn was the dress, but we can not yet confirm that.

The 19th Century

We have some information on the 19th century. Our information on the early-19th century is limited, primarily because photography was not yet invented. Younger boys wore dresses throughout the 19th century. We have only limited details on the decade stylistic trends and conventions. Our preliminary assessment is tat dresses wer not as commony worn by boys in German as in some other European countries, but this needs to be confirmed. Germany did not become a united country until 1871. We suspect that that there were differences among the German states, but do not yet have details. We know that boys also wore tunics throughout the century. School age boys wore tunics inthe early part oif thecentury By bthe end of the century it was primarily pre-school boys. We are less sure about skirts, smocks and pinafores, but hope to gradually collect information. We notice a few boys wearing kilts in the second half of the 19th century, bit this seems to have been an upper-class affecttion, imatating British styles. We see fewer boys wearing dresses in the 1890s.

The 20th Century

Skirted garments for boys declined in populasrity after the turn of the 20th century. Dresses had begun to decline in populrity durng the 1890s and this trend continued in the 1900s. There are several reasons why this occurred. Far fewer boys wore dresses. We see a few photographs of boys wearing dresses, but they were not very common after the 1900s, except for very youg boys. This was a generalized trend throughout Europe and North America. An exception in Germany and was tunics which were popular in Germany during the 1900s and 10s. We see boys in other countries wearing tunics, but they seem particularly popular in Germany, particularly for pre-school boys. Unlike several countries, German boys did not wear smocks to any extent. We are not entirelty sure why, but fo the most part smocks became widely worn by boys in countries where educational authorities promoted them. World War I was a major divising point between ,ny styles. And skirted garments begin to become unual for boys after the War. The one excedption was the pinafore. We see little boys wearing basic pinafores for play into the 1930s. These pinafores were more like extended bibs. We no longer see German boys wearing skirted garments after World War II.

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Created: 9:02 PM 11/12/2004
Last updated: 1:32 AM 2/23/2010