Figure 1.--We see German boys of many ages wearing short pants suits from about 5-15 years of age. Even older boys wore them, but it is much less common for boys older than 15-16 years of age to wear them. This boy photographed with his grandmother, probanly in the 1950s, looks to be about 7 years old.

We see German boys of many ages wearing short pants suits from about 5-15 years of age. Even older boys wore them, but it is much less common for boys older than 15-16 years of age to wear them. Here families had different ideas about appropriateness. There were social-class differences. The age that boys wore short pants suits also varied to some degree chronologically. Boys often wore short pants suits to about age 14 when they began wearing knicker or long pants 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. fter the 1960s you normally only see rather young boys wearing short pants suits.

6 Years Old

We know more about German 6-year old than any other age. This is because German parents seemingly universally wanted a portrait of their children when they began school at age 6 years. Abd because they got gift cones called Schulentüten, we know for sure that they were 6-year olds starting their first year of school. Schoolwear varies, but most boys were done up in short pants suits or other short pants outfits through the 1950s.

7 Years Old

Most German boys at age 7 wore knee pants suits at the turn of the 20th century. And as short pants became more common after World War I, they almost universally wore short pants suits, although we also see knee pnts suits. The early short pants were long like knee pants. This boy photographed with his grandmother, probanly in the 1950s, looks to be about 7 years old (figure 1)..

13 Years Old

German children, especially Protestant boys, usually were confirmed at age 13 years. Fir the boys this generally meant a new suit. The type of suit varied from family to family. In many family this mean a boy's first long pants suit. Commonly the suit was reserved for special occassuons znd the boy continued wearing short pnts or even other short pahts suits to school and more casual occassions.

16 Year Olds

Generally speakening, German boys by about 14 or 15 years of age begn to get news suits. This was often knickers or long pants. The precise age varied from family to family. Some boys from conservative families tended to wear short pants longer. So we see 16 year olds or even older boys wearing short pants suits, especially if they were still in school. We are not entirely sure about the conventions involved. A 16-year old might have short pants suits for all occassiins. Or he might have a long pants suits for special occassions and his older short pants suits for school or casual wear. This again varied from family to family. This continued until after World war II when conditions in Germany were very poor. We see even older teenagers wearing short pants suuts because families did not have the money to buy new clothes. As soon as comditions began to improve with the German Economic Miracle we begin to see fewer teen agers wearing short pants suits in the 1950s.

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Created: 11:24 PM 6/17/2007
Last updated: 3:40 PM 12/19/2010