Figure 1.--We have found some images of Dutch children wearing smocks. Unfortunately in many cases we do not know much about the images making it difficult to understand the conventions involved. One example is some Amsterdam children in 1933. Here we have a family photograph of three children. We would guess that they are siblings. |
We have found some images of Dutch children wearing smocks. Unfortunately in many cases we do not know much about the images making it difficult to understand the conventions involved. One example is some Amsterdam children in 1933. Here we have a family photogrph of three children. We would guess that they are siblings. It isn't quite clear to me whether the child on the left is a girl or a boy, but I assume the child is a girl because of the longish haircut. The two older children look to be about 11-9 years of age. Their little brother looks to be about 6 years old. Now perhaps he is a cousin or a neigbor, but the body languages certainly suggests that he is the little brother. This looks to be a family snapshot and not a studio portrait. Note the flowers in the background as though the photographer was attempting to make a somewhat staged photograph. Two of the children are dressed identically in what look like smocks--perhaps school smocks. We have some questions anout the children's clothes. Hopefully our Dutch readers will have some insights to offer.
Here we have a family photogrph of three children. We would guess that they are siblings. It isn't quite clear to me whether the child on the left is a girl or a boy, but I assume the child is a girl because of the longish haircut. I don't think a younger brother would have had shorter hair than an older brother. The two older children look to be about 11-9 years of age. Their little brother looks to be about 6 years old. Now perhaps he is a cousin or a neigbor, but the body languages certainly suggests that he is the little brother.
The photograph was taken in Amsterdam, so we assume that they were Dutch children. All we know anout the photograph, however, is that a reader found it in a German book about the Low Countries. There is no information except the caption "Amsterdam, 1933". A Dutch reader writes, "I do not recognize the clothing here as Dutch styles.
However, there is no doubt that this picture was taken in Holland. It is the only country where people put oriental rugs on the table. Always when we had finished eating, my mother would remove the table cloth and drape a small oriental rug over the dining room table."
The snapshot was taken in 1933.
This looks to be a family snapshot and not a studio portrait. Note the flowers in the background as though the photographer was attempting to make a somewhat
staged photograph.
Several aspects of the children's clothes here are interesting. If the child on the left is a girl as we suspect, we would have an example of a brother and sister being dressed similarly--although we do not know what they are wearing under their smocks. The smocks and long stockings raise a number of questions.
The two older children are dressed identically in what look to be smocks with belts and a decorative stripe down the front. We can not see what the children are wearing underneath but assume the girl is wearig a dress and the boy short pants. What is a little confusing is that their younger brother in the center wears short trousers and a sweater. What we don't understand is the older children are wearing smocks, why there younger brother is not. Perhaps the smocks are school smocks and maybe little brother has ot yet begun school. School smocks were common in France and Belgium, but not in the Netherlands at the time. But that this does not mean that they did not exist in the Netherlands. Amsterdam was a large cosmopolitan city so you migt think that there was a school which might requie smocks. A problem here is tht many schools at the time, except for village schools, were single gender schools. It is possible that mother had the children wear smocks at home, but we think it very unlikely that she would have the older children and not the younger boy wear smocks. So school smocks seem the most likely explanation. We do not note many photographs of boys wearing smocks with long stockings. One of the few examples we can think of is a Czech boy.
Another interesing aspect of the clothing the children are wearing is the hosiery. The younger brother wears long white stockings. The two older children also wear white long stockings, but they have apparently unfastened their garters and rolled the stockings down over the knee to give the appearance of knee socks. I've never seen this style before, but we have some evidence that older children whose parents dressed
them in long stockings sometimes rolled the stockings down for a sportier and more informal look--and maybe also because they wanted to be a bit cooler and freer in the area of their knees. This seems to be a posed picture, however, so perhaps the children have rolled their stockings down with parental permission. We would expect older children at that time to be wearing beige or brown long stockings rather than white, except when dressing up, but smocks were not really garments worn for dress up occassions. A reader asks, didn't girls roll down their long stockings as a style whereas boys didn't?" Here we are not sure, I think this may be that older girls did do this while older boys did not normally wear long stovkings. Thus the convention mat be more associated with girls than boys.
Note the children are also all wearing strap shoes. This is not that unusual as we note quire a few images from France the Lowlands and Germany with the children wearing similar shoes and hoiery. Perhaps the children wear white long stockings for some seasonal reason.
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