Figure 1.--This portrait shows a boy in his first day of school outfit. It is dated 1928. Notice his leather book satchel and matching lunch carrier. This is also a good example of the tan cotton long stockings that had become popular during the 1920s in both Germany and America. The sailor cap was popular at the ttime. He probably also had a sailor suit. The The sign at the bottom says, "Ostern 1928". That means Easter 1928. Before World War II, school started just after Easter, depending on when Easter occurred. That's also why you see the chocolate bunny in the portrait. Presumably this was to show the type of goodies in the cone. Note the cone has an Easter rather than a school theme. A German reader tells us, "This is a start of school portrait. German children had started school at Easter for decades. My mum and dad both did. So it is fairly common to see Easter decoration in these old school first day portraits. Image courtesy of the BP collection.

We see a varirty of hosiery worn by children with their first day outfits. Long stockings were very common for German children in the 1920s. Both boys and girls commonly wore them. We think many school portraits showed the children wearing long stockings. German schools in the 1920s began begin around the end of August. Often the weather had not yet turned cool, but it soon would. Thus we think mothers often dressed the children up in long stockings for their portraits. Wearing long stockings was seasonal. As almost all 6-year olds beginning school in the 1920s wore short pants, mothers wanted their legs protected from the cold during the winter. School began around Easter when the weather was still chilly. Black long stockings continued to be common. They were seen as rather formal by the 1920s. We see many children wearing lighter shades. The actual color other than black and white are difficult to assess fron the black-and white photography of the date. We believe that the long stockings worn were mostly brown shades like beige, but grey stockings were also worn. We also see white stockings, but they were more popular for the girls than the boys. We also see knee socks. Ankle soicks, however, were not very common.

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Created: 9:34 PM 9/2/2010
Last updated: 9:35 PM 9/2/2010