Figure 1.--Here we see see a German brothers wearing rather long Lederhosen. Note the wonderfully decorated hataers. These boys wear sandals with their Lederhosen which was not real common. The portrait is undated. We would guess about 1920. Click on the image for a fuller discussion. Image courtesy of the MC collection.

We notice German boys wearing Lederhosen with a wide range of footwear. The footwear worn with Lederhosen has varied over time and depended somewhat on the activity involved. As Lederhosen could be worn for rough outdoor activitoies as well as for dressing up, footwear varied quite substantially. Footwear of course was different for casual and dress occassions. We often note boys wearing heavy boots with Lederhosen, especially for hiking and camping. Most commonly we notice leather shoes. We also see boys wearing in contrast strap shoes. By the 1970s we note boys wearing sneakers, but by that time Lederhosen were declining in popularity. Boys also wore sandals with Lederhosen, but this was somewhat less common than other types of footwear. Closed-toe sandals were worn before World War II, but after the War open-toe sandals became more common.

Heavy Boots

We often note boys wearing heavy boots with Lederhosen, especially for hiking and camping. We note quite a few snapshots of boys with boots in the photographic archive.

Leather Shoes

Most commonly we notice German boys wearing leather shoes with Lederhodsen. We see a range of shoe types, including both high-top and low-cut shoes.

Strap Shoes

In sharp contrast to the photographs of boys wearing Lederhosen with hiking boots, we also see boys wearing strap shoes. Some of these photographs mat seem to be somewhat strange. This is because today Lederhosen are seen as a casual styleand and strap shoes as a rather formal style. Lederhosen can also be worn as a formal style. Strap shoes likewise have been worn both for formal occassions as well as a casual style of footwear for children. Wearing strap shoes as a casual style was quite common in Germany in the early 20th century. Thus we note both formal and casual images. One question we have about the strap shoes that we see in the photographs is color, but here the black and white photography provide us few clues.

Sneakers

Sneakers were not unknow in Germany before World War II, but they were not very common. And we do not dee them very commonly until the 1960s. By the 1970s we note boys commonly wearing sneakers, but by that time Lederhosen were declining in popularity. We thus do not see Lederhosen being worn much with sneakers. Some boys did wear sneakers with Lederhosen, but it does not seem tohave been very common.

Sandals

We see German boys wearing sandals with Lederhosen, but this was somewhat less common than other types of footwear. Notice the boys here wearing closed-toe sandals, probably some time in the 1920s (figure 1). Closed-toe sandals were worn before World War II. We see some open-toe sandals, but not very commonly. We see mostly strap shoes and "T"-strap sandals. We are not sure of the color because of the black-and-white pohotography of the day. Age here was a factor, although a complicated one. Sanda;ls were more complicated for younger boys. We do, however, see quite old boys at time wearing whatwe think is the the cloth-type strap shoe, a related shoe typoe. After the War we still see closed-toe sandals, but gradually open-toe sandals became much more common, especially by the 1970s.

Wellington Boots

We see some German boys wearing Lederhosen with rubber boots, what the British call Wellington boots or wellies. We are not sure how common thos was. We suspect it was not all that common. At least we do not find to many examples in the photographic record. We suspect that this was primarily boys living in villages and rural areas more than city boys. Lederhosen of course were very flexible garments thsat could be used for play, chores, casual wear, school, or dressing up. Wearing wellies the boys would most likely be involvred in outdoor play or chores on the farm or around the home.

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Created: 6:57 AM 9/3/2005
Last updated: 5:47 AM 7/4/2009