Figure 1.--This is one of the relatively few Germn portraits we have noted with a boy wearing hair bows. The portrait was taken in Munich. I'm not sure when, oerhaps about 1900. Image courtesy of the RG collection.
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Figure 1.--This is one of the relatively few Germn portraits we have noted with a boy wearing hair bows. The portrait was taken in Munich. I'm not sure when, oerhaps about 1900. Image courtesy of the RG collection. |
We have very limited informaion on hairbows in Germany. The style of using bows in boys' hsair may have been less common in Germany than elsewhere, certainly less common than in France. We know, however, that the fashion did exist. We have seen a few German boys wearing hairbows. The fashion may have been more common in Bavaria where French fashions seem more influential than elsewhere in Germany. We have also seen a few Berlin boys wearing hair bows. Other than the few photographs, we have no information from published sources about German boys wearing hairbows. We have seen them with both ringlet curls and straiht hair as well as on breeched and unbrreched boys. We also notice different styles of ribbons. The boy here has relatively small double ribbons. We have also noticeed German boys wearing large single ribbons. The images we have noted show boys wearing white ribbons, but colored ribbons mat be worn as well. There were clear sovial connotations. We believe that this fashion was most common among upper-class families. This is especially true for boys beyond the age of infancy.
We have very limited informaion on hairbows in Germany. The style of using bows in boys' hsair may have been less common in Germany than elsewhere, certainly less common than in France. We know, however, that the fashion did exist. We have seen a few German boys wearing hairbows. The fashion may have been more common in Bavaria where French fashions seem more influential than elsewhere in Germany. We have also seen a few Berlin boys wearing hair bows. Other than the few photographs, we have no information from published sources about German boys wearing hairbows.
We have bery few German images at this time. Thus we are unable to build any kind of chronology. The few images that we have collected all come from the early 20th century before World War I. The image here, probably taken about 1900, is a good example (figure 1).
Hair bows were worn with a widr range of hair styles. Of course the use of hairbows required hair of some length. Hairbows could not be worn by boys with short hair. We have seen them with both ringlet curls and straight hair as well as on breeched and unbreached boys. The boy here wears hair bows with ringlets.
We also notice different styles of bows. The boy here has relatively small double ribbons (figure 1). We have also noticed German boys wearing large single ribbons. TThese small ribbons, often just one were a very common style of hairbows for boys. In contrast they were not nearly as common for girls. These bows were tied in a variety of different ways. We notice bows both with and without tails. The bows the boy here wears do not seem toi have tails.
Hair bows could be tied in different positions on the boy's head. The double bows like the boy here is wearing would bevnormsally tied on opposite positions on the side of the head. Songle hair boys could be tied in many different positions. They could bre ties on top the head or behind, but for boys the side of the head was by far the most common position.
The images we have noted mostly show boys wearing white ribbons as hairbows, but colored ribbons were wornn as well. This suggests thatthe white hairbows were the most common. We are not sure what colors were worn, but we note some dark colors. Wenote one boy wearing twin, dark-colored hairbows being worn by a boy in a tunic. The boy seen here wears white ribbons (figure 1).
There were clear social connotations. We believe that this fashion was most common among upper-class families. This is especially true for boys beyond the age of infancy. Much more common among German boys was close cropped hair. This was especially true among worjing-class boys, but we notice middle-class boys with close-cropped hair as well.
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