German Boys' Suits: Accompanying Clothing--Hosiery


Figure 1.--These unidentified German boys wear knee socks and long stockings, we think during the late-1950s. A little brither wears Lederhosen. The black longstockings and white knee socks suggest a degree of formality. The boys in suits may be preparing for their Konformation.

German boys have worn a variety of hosiery with suits. There are associations between cerain types of hosiery and pants. This has changed over time. We are less sure what boys wore with long pants which were widely worn throughout the 19th century. As younger boys began to wear shotened-length pants at mid-century, avaialble photographic images show German boys wearing a range of socks and long stockings. We mostly see boys wearing long stockings with kneepants in the 19th century, although there was some seasonal and functional variation. We aldo see bloomer knickers and they were akso worn with long stockings. By the 1890s an increasing number of boys and older boys were wearing kneepants. This trend continued into the 20th century. We begin to see short pants suits in the 1910s. After World War II, this trend continued, although at first short pants were very long. . Kneesocks were always worn with knickers and usually with short pants suits. We have not noted German boys commonly wearing short pants suits with short socks until the 1960s. Knicker suits by the 1920s and short pants suits were also worn with long stockings, but kneesocks became much more common. Some younger boys wore short pants suits with long stockings. This was most common during the winter in cold weather. A good example is an unidentified German boy, probably in the 1930s. While German boys most commonly wore long stockings for warmth, they were also wore long stockings for dress occasions such as First Communions or Confirmations. We note that black long stockings and white knee socks were sometimes worn with suits for formality. Styles of hoiery for Ledehosen when worn with suit jackets were more varied. Knee socks were probably most common. After the 1960s, long pants suits became increasingly common making it difficult to determine the hosiery type. As best we can tell, tights were not commonly worn with suits. This is in part because as tights were becoming popular, short pants suits were becoming less popular. Another factor us that German boys by the 1970s were not wearing suyits as commonly as they did earlier.








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Created: 4:47 AM 8/17/2010
Last updated: 4:47 AM 8/17/2010