Figure 1.--German boys in the 1940s and 50s can be seen wearing lederhosen for a wide range of every day activities. Thisis a scene from a German film "Die Fischerin vom Bodensee" (1956) about fishermen. It looks like one of the Heimat movies tht were so popular in the 1950s. Wearing the halter with the lederhosen was more common in the 1950s than in later years. This boy was probably helping his parents fishing in the Bodensea (Lake of Constanz). This lake is quite a big one on the boarder of Switzerland and Germany (Bavaria).
HBC at this time has only limited information about German chronological trends. We are hopeful that our German readwers will provide more details. HBC does not yet precise details about the chronology of the development of lederhosen in Germany, but we see German boys wearing them throughout the 20th century. The subject is dealt with on the main lederhosen page. The chronology of lederhosen in general is more or less the same as the German chronology because lederhosen developed in the German state of Bavaria and Austria and are most popular in Germany and Austria. After World War II, lederhosen were commonly worn by boys. They appear to have been very popular with boys in the 1950s and 60s, but began to decline in popularity during the 1970s as boys, especially older boys wanted to wear jeans. They were worn by Scouts and others engaged in outdoor activities. Some boys would wear them with sports jackets for dressy outfits. They came to be worn much shorter than knee-length. Also, many boys stopped wearing braces, at least over their uniform shirt. Zippers were introduced, especially in Northern Germany. Lederhosem declined substanially in popularity during the 1980s by which time they were mostly worn as Scout uniforms or folk events. They have not entirely disappeared as casual wear. While boys would generally not wear them to school. Some boys still wear themmas casual pants at home.
The 19th Century
We do not yet know much about German Lederhosen during the 19th century. We have not found much evidence of German boys wearing Lederhosen in the 19th century. We know they did, largely restricted to Bavaria and other Alpine regions. They seem to have been worn by farmers and their sons in the early-19th century. By the end of the decade we see some portraits of boys wearing Lederhosen as a kind of nostalgic folk costume. Urban populations grew substantially after mid-cedntury. And the new city dealers eventually began to look nostalgically on their rural roots. A problem is that most of our 19th century archive is xstudio portraits. It is possible that simre boys had Lederhosen, but did not wear them for their studio portraits. This we are not yet able to assess.
We know much more about German Lederhosenm in the 20th century. The introduction of the Kodak Brownie and related cameras significantly expanded the photographic record. At the turn of the century, the additiin of the family snapshot means that we now are able to assess not just what people wore to the photographic studio abd school, but what they wore everyday for a range of activities. They do not seem to have been very common in the early-19th century, at least we hve been able to find relatively few examples. And the ones we see tend to be long, knee-length Lederhosen. We have found many more examples after world war I in the 1920s. We are not entirely sure that the photographic record is a valisd indicator of actual prevalence, but it certainly is an indicator to be considered. We gradually see more boys wearing Lederhosen in the 1930s and the length began to become shiorter. through the 1950s and this included both boys and teens. And wec see boys not inly wearing Lederhosen as casual clothes, but also for a range of dressy occassiions. They wee also commonly wirn to school, at least by pre-teens and very young teenagers. This changed in the 1960s when German teenagers began wearing jeans. Lederhosen never entirely disappeared, but they become much less common and virtually disappear as school wear.
We have very limited information available on the 2000s. Lederhosen seem much less common than they once were in the mid-20th century. Our information is still very limited. Our initial impression is that Lederhosen are worn by younger boys as a kind of play outfit. They usually had the hslters. Some older boys wore them without the haltars, but we see fewer examples. We also notice older boys wearing Lederhosen rather like a suit outfit, primarily for special events, especially festivals like Octoberfest. We also see them being worn to church, although church attendance has declined substantially since World War II. We noticed a lot of boys wearing Lederhosen without haltars. in the late-19th century, This seems less common in the early 21st century. We are not sure just why, but think it vws because casual wear for older boys was becoming less common. Hopefully our German readers will provide some insights. A reader writes, "I visited Munich in 2002 and was surprised to see the number of men and boys dressed in the traditional attire. As it was the middle of winter they were all wearing the knee length variety with thick wool socks."
