Figure 1.--This Austrian boy wears what look like beige long stockings. The snapshot is undated. We would guess it was taken in the 1930s, but we are not positive. Notice the Alpine hat. |
|
Austrian boys and girls like German boys commonly wore long stockings, especially during the winter. Austria is located southn of Germany, but a combination of the coninental effect and the mounananeous terraine (meaning higher alditudes) mean that winters can be quite cold despite a relatively lower alditude than Geramny. Like the rest of the nirthern Eurooe, the altitudes are quite high. Vienna is at 48°N--comparable to northern Maine. We believe that long stockings were commonly worn in the mid-19th century, but do not yet have photographic evidence to confirm it. We note long stockings in the late-19th century as knee pants and bloomer knickers began to be common boys wear. Girls also commonly wore them. Long stockings were as far as we can tell fairly standard in the 19th century, but over time became an optional choice. We note seasonality (cold weather) become a major factor. Other factors included formality and modesty. We note children wearing long stockings for a range of occassions, casual wear, school, and formal events. They were most common in cold weather, but for formal occassions might be worn any time during the year. We note two brothers wearing long stockings with Lederhosen in 1935. We suspect the weather was cool. We note Vienna children in 1936 wearing long stockings during the winter. The boy wears then with a short pants suit. Long stockings were done in a range of colors. Unfortunately the black and white photography of the day does not tell us much aboutcolor. We see an Austrian boy wearing white (or possibly beige) long stockings. White was more common for girls, but were worn by younger boys or occassionally older boys for formal occassions. After World War I, beige or other light-brown shades became the standard color for children. Long stockings were most common for younger boys, but widely worn until about 11-12 years of age.
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Austrian pages:
[Austrian choirs]
[Austrian school uniforms]
[Lederhosen]
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
Return to the Main European long stocking page]
Return to the Main Austrian hosiery type page]
Return to the Main country knee sock page]
[Return to the Main Austrian hosiery page]
[Return to the Main Austrian garment page]
[Introduction]
[Activities]
[Biographies]
[Chronology]
[Clothing styles]
[Countries]
[Girls]
[Bibliographies]
[Contributions]
[Essays]
[FAQs]
[German glossaries]
[Images]
[Links]
[Registration]
[Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing national pages:
[Return to the Main Austrian boys clothes page]
[Return to the Main countries page]
[Australia]
[Belgium]
[England]
[France]
[Germany]
[Ireland]
[Italy]
[Japan]
[Korea]
[Mexico]
[New Zealand]
[Scotland]
[United States]