Figure 1.--We think that this German school portrait was taken in the 1860s. A German contributor tells us, "This is the earliest German school portrait I have seen. It is very useful to see so many boys on one spot to get a feeling what styles were mostly worn." Put your cursor on the image to see the rest of the class.

This is a fascinating German school portrait. Unfortunately there is no information associated with it. We would some ikt was a state primary school. Was this all one class, it would have been really large. The boys look like they are just beginning school. We do not know where it was taken and it is not dated. Now while we can not figure out where it was taken, we can estimate the date. There is no way of being precise. This is the oldest German school portrait that I have ever seen. There may be some 1850s portraits, but if so, they are rare. Advances in photography make them morefeasible in the 1860s, but even so school portaits from the 60s are not common. We would guess that it was taken in the 1860s, although the early 70s is possible. The portrait show all kinds of interesting fashion trends. Note the teacher'd top hat. The most notable aspect of the portrait are the caps. Many boys wear the standard peaked military cap, but almost are common are fur Hussar caps. There are a few other caps, including a sailor cap. We also see hats, including hombergs and a rounded crown hat. The boys mostly wear suits and there are a wide variety of them. Some of the boys wear tunics which is one reason we believe that it is a 1860s portrait rather than the 70s. Almost all of the boys wear long pants despite that the boys are all only about 6 years old. A few boys wear bloomer knickers.

Navigate the German school pages
[Return to the Main German individual school chronology page]
[Return to the Main German school uniform page]
[Imperial Germany] [Weimar Republic] [NAZI era] [Post-war Years] [Modern Germany]
[Return to the Main school uniform page]
[Return to the Main school uniform national page]

Navigate the Relate Boys Historical Clothing Style Pages
[Main country page]
[Long pants suits] [Short pants suits] [Lederhosen] [Kneesocks] [Eton suits]
[Jacket and trousers] [Blazer [School sandals]

Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing School Uniform Pages
[Main School Uniform Page]
[Australia] [England] [France] [Germany] [Italy] [Japan] [New Zealand] [Scotland]
[United States]

Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Page
[Introduction] [Activities] [Biographies] [Chronology] [Clothing styles] [Countries]
[Bibliographies] [Contributions] [FAQs] [German glossary] [Images] [Links] [Registration]
[Boys' Clothing Home]

Created: 6:30 PM 10/25/2007
Last updated: 6:30 PM 10/25/2007