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A HBC reader ame across this photo illustrating the a young boy wearing a Leibchen in some discarded pages from an old German magazine. The date is 1943, but the name of the magazine is unfortunately lost. From the context I believe the area of Germany represented in northeastern, but we can't be entirely sure about this. The magazine photograph is extremely valuable for HBC's discussion of the Leibchen, the German garment worn by children, both boys and girls (but commonly 10 years old or younger), for holding up long stockings.
A HBC reader ame across this photo illustrating the a young boy wearing a Leibchen in some discarded pages from an old German magazine.
The date is 1943, but the name of the magazine is unfortunately lost.
From the context I believe the area of Germany represented in northeastern, but we can't be entirely sure about this.
The boy in the phitograph is unidentified. He seems to be about 5 or 6 years old. He obviously comes from a rural area of Germany because he is standing in the midst of a flock of geese.
The magazine photograph is extremely valuable for HBC's discussion of the Leibchen, the German garment worn by children, both boys and girls (but commonly 10 years old or younger), for holding up long stockings.
He wears ledershosen shorts with the traditional halter with a sweater and a white-collared shirt underneath the halter straps. His tan (or beige) long
stockings, which are not quite long enough to cover his legs because
of the shortness of the lederhosen, show part of the Leibchen he is obviously wearing.
The Leibchen is a sleeveless undergarment buttoning down the back
(like a woman's bra) with white elastic straps attached. In some cases the straps were equipped with metal loop-and-button clasps of the same kind that we see on the standard American hose supporters for children in the 1940s. But it was more common in Germany for the elastic straps to have simple button-holes at their ends so that large buttons, sewn by hand onto the tops of the stockings, could be easily attached.
This was the usual way of holding up children's long stockings in Germany. This method was common from the 1920s up through at least the 1950s in Germany and in some other European countries as well. The button sewn onto the stocking top was called (in German) "ein Waschenknopf" and was customarily white. But, interestingly, in the present case, we see a black button on the stocking for the boy's right leg and a white button for the left-leg stocking. This could mean that the stockings are not exact mates since Mother would normally use a pair of matched buttons for a new pair of stockings. Later on, during the late 1950s and 1960s tights began to replace long stockings for boys and girls in Germany. But tights were more expensive than stockings and had the disadvantage of being unwearable if one of the two legs got damaged. So long stockings remained in use even after tights had become available because an undamaged stocking could still be used and paired with another stocking of the same color. The standard color for boys' long stockings in the 1940s and 1950s was either brown or beige. This boy clearly wears beige stockings.
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing German hosiery/underwear pages:
[Return to the Main German Leibchen page]
[Return to the Main German underwear page]
[Return to the Main German stocking suppoter page]
[Stockings suspension devices]
[German film: "Der Laden"]
[Leibchen]
[Rural boy]
[East German boy]
[Lederhosen and hosiery]
[Tights]
[Long stockings]
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