Figure 1.-- The very worn garment of 1943-48 looks as though it had been through the war. It has obviously had to be patched by the museum that owns it. It is made of white cotton ribbed material and is made so that it can be buttoned either in front of in back. Notice that it is almost as short as a woman's bra.

A HBC reader came 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. We note a standard Leibchen that would have been worn in the 1940s and perhaps early 50s. The very worn garment here from 1943-48 looks as though it had been through the war (figure 1). It has obviously had to be patched by the museum that owns it. It is made of white cotton ribbed material and is made so that it can be buttoned either in front of in back. Notice that it is almost as short as a woman's bra. It has a reinforcement strip running around the bottom and garter buttons at each side for attaching the supporter straps. This garment looks as though it were designed for children no older than 10 years old, but would be suitable for both boys and girls. Girls would presumably use the back buttoning closure.

Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Introduction] [Activities] [Biographies] [Chronology] [Clothing styles] [Countries]
[Bibliographies] [Contributions] [FAQs] [Glossary] [Satellite sites] [Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]

Created: 1:03 AM 4/20/2006
Last updated: 1:03 AM 4/20/2006