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Our German readers have been kind enough to send along advertisements, periodical features, and catalog items to help develop this section. Unfortuntely, many of these items are unsourced and/or undated, making them difficult to use. We can, however, usually estimate the decade to a fair degree of accuracy. . Thus we will archive undated items we believe to be from the 1950s here. Readers are invited to comment if they believe we have not accurately estimated the date. We have been able to acquire a few items, but they are undated, so the 1950s is a guess at this point. A good rule of thumb is that the mono-chrome pages are from the late-40s/early-50s. The full color images are from the mid-late-50s.
The staple for girls was the Dirndl, a traditional peasant dress. This is the dress we see being worn at festivals like Oktoberfest. It was a kind if femazle counterpart to Lederhosen. The were especially associated with Alpine areas like Bavaria along with German-speaking Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria and South Tyrol (Italy). It was based on the historical costume of Alpine peasants, not Germany as a whole. Many Germans girls had a Dirndl in their wardrobe during the 1950s as economic conditions improved during the 1950s. Yje style influenced girl's vlothing in general. Dresses that are are loosely based on the Dirndl are known as Landhausmode, meaning country-inspired fashion). The standard Dirndl consists of a bodice, blouse, full skirt and apron. Like most peasant inspored clothing, the Dirndl looks simple, but peasants often has a more laborate Dirndl for festive occassions that was more elaborately decorated and made from more luxurios fabrics than the everyday Dirndl. We note Dirndls offered in the Der Goldene Schnitt catalog as traditional outfits along with a tunic done as peasant blouse for boys. We do not see boys wearing peasant blouse/tunic outfits in the photigraphic record during the 1950s, although we did see a few in the 1930s. Here we do see such an outfit in the Der Goldene Schnitt catalog. It was paired with girls' Dirndls, apparantly presented as Tracht or traditional folk dress outfits. We do see Dirndls in the photographic record, but not the peasant blouse tunic, at least in the 1950s. It is possible that this could be a 1930s catalog, but somehow it has more a look of the 1950s to us. Hopefully our German readers can help with the dating.
We note younger bous wearing sun suits during the summr with both short pants and romper pants. Rompers were more common in France, but we see some examples in Germany, mostly in the 1940s and 50s. By the 1960s rompers were primarily for infants. Before the War, sailor suits were a very popular oufit for boys, even including younger teens. They first appeared in the mid-10th century abnd contuinued to ve worn for basuically a century. They declined in popularity during the NAZI period, we are not sure why, probably because of their middle-class image. Sailor suits y largely disappeared for boys after the War. We do see a few sailor outfits offered for younger boys after the War, but only for younger, mostly pre-school boys. We also see some done in coordinated brother sister styles, but again mostly for younger boys. This convention might extend into the early primary years. We do see somme offerings in botique shops for somewhat older boys, but based on the photograophic record, especially school photography, the centuries-old fashion style had clearly passed out of fashion for boys.
German schoolwear became more infirmal in the 1950s. This was a trend that had already begun in the 1930s-50s. German children for the most part did not wear uniforms, at least in West Germany. In East Germabny as in other Communist countries, basic school uniforms were introduced. This also dounled as a Young Pioneer uniform. The boy here is clearly dressed for school--notice the book bag (figure 1). He is more formlly dressed than most primary-age children at the time.
We have some limited information on suits or suit-like garments during the 1950s. Here we see a pattern for a kind of vest suit which was called Sporthose which I think would translate as something like sport pants (figure 1). We do not understand the name as it clearly is pictured a some kind of suit to be worn to school. Perhaps it was because it was a little more informal than a traditional suit. We also notice traditional sailor outfits for boys and girls in Der Goldene Schnitt catalog. The styling is very traditional. This was kind of a biotique offering. We no longer seev many German boys wearing sailor suits. There is a skirted outfit for girls and a short pants outfit for boys. We do not see German boys wearing sailor suits in the 1950s, except with choir groups in the photograpic record. It could be that this is from a 1930s catalog or perhaps the compamy is just promoting traditional styles. Here we are not sure.
German boys wore a variety of coats. Germany is set in the niddle of Europe and commonly ecxprunces very cold winters. We notice formal overcoats offered for boys and girls in the Der Goldene Schnitt catalog, we think in the 1950s. The illistrations use different headwear, a rounded-crown hat for the girl and beret for the boy. Some German mothers saw the betry, more associated wuth French boys, as stylish. Unlike the United states, it was mostly seen as boys' headwear. The styling of the overcoats is very similar. Of course they button on different sides, but the basic styling is essentially identical. The only important differemne is the collar. The boy's overcoat has a standard rounded collar done in the same material as the coat. The girl has a white collar with a border design. We are not sure if it part of the coat or the collar of a blouse she is wearing underneath.
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