Figure 1.--This Dutch brother and sister were photographed in a small village during the 1920s. The hat and cap are interesting. Notice also the boy's sailor suit. Both children are wearing white long stockings--so the occasion must have been a somewhat dressy one. White long stockings seem to have been associated with celebratory or formal occasions such as church or a wedding. They were mostly worn by girls, but younger boys also wore them when dressing up for formal occassions. We do not know what the occassion was here.

Long stockings were not nearly as common in the Netherlands as in neighboring Germany. Thus we have fewer images to make our color assessment. And we have the problem of the black-and-white photogrohy of the day. As far as we can tell, however, while long stockings were not as common in Germany, the available colors and conventions were essentially the same as in Germany. While we have not archived many examples, the available photographic record suggests that the long stockings Dutch children wore were usually black or other dark color--always solid colors. Lighter colors, especially tan appeared, after World War I. And girls might wear white stockings. We see girls and younger boys wearing white long stockings for dressy occassions. Black stockings were also worn for formal occassions. A Dutch reader tells us, "The color of the long stockings Dutch boys were wearing had to do with the status of a family. Black long stockings were nearly always worn by farm boys while children from a 'higher class. and better educated parents used to wear brown, beige or blue stockings. When I grew up Holland durungh the 1930s and early-40s, much of the country was still an agricultural society. So a lot of children still wore black long stockings." This seems quite similar to German stocking conventions.

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Created: 1:14 AM 7/8/2011
Last updated: 9:27 PM 7/9/2011