Eton Collars: Germany


Figure 1.--Notice in this 1910 photograph that the boys wear idntical suits. And it is the younger boy who wears an Eton collar and the older boy a wimg collar. Another younger boy not shown here also wears an Eton collar. These boys are members of the wealthy Thurn and Taxis family. Click on the image to see the entire photograph.

German boys did wear Eton collars. We are not yet sure aout the chronology of the Eton collar in Germany, We note them in the 1890s, but how long before that we are not real sure. We have noted, however, relatively few German boys wearing Eton collars. This may be a reflection of the small number of historical German images but in recent years we have added quite a number of German images. And they clearly show that Eton collars while not unusual was much less common than in Britain. We are increasingly being draw to the comclussion as might have been expected that far fewer German boys wore Eton collars than English boys. Many of the German boys that we notice wearing Eton collars come from affluent families which may have been trying to adopt an English look--considerd vety fashionable among some German circles. They seem less common almong the working class. In Britain the Eton collar was widely worn by boys of all classes. I'm not sure what the collars were called in German. And many of the Eton collars we have found in Germany do not look quite as large or as severe as those worn in Britain. We are not sure if German girls wore these collars.

Chronology

German boys did wear Eton collars. We are not yet sure about the chronology of the Eton collar in Germany, We are not sure abouthe 1840s. We note them in the 1850s, but only in paitings of wealthy families. are not sure how common they were. We do not have photographic images until the 1860s. Our archive of 19th century images is still quite limited. They seem to hsve been worn in the 1890s, but do not seem particularly prevalent. We think that Eton collars were most common furing the 1890s-1910s. We do not notice them much after World War I in the 1920s. Here are archive is fairly extensive. So we have a fairly good idea about 20th century trends.

Prevalence

We have noted, however, relatively few German boys wearing Eton collars. This may be a reflection of the small number of historical German images but in recent years we have added quite a number of German images. And they clearly show that Eton collars while not unusual was much less common than in Britain. We are increasingly being draw to the comclussion as might have been expected that far fewer German boys wore Eton collars than English boys. It is not that German boys dressed less formally than British boys. We see German boys wearing a variety of different tyled formal, detachvle collsrs. It id just thst the Eton collar was not the dominant styles as in Britain.

Schools

A facyor here may be the fact thst German schools did not have school unifirms as in Britain. And many private schools in Britain required the boys to wear Eton collrs. And this set the standard for boys in grammar schools nd state schools. This did not occur in Germany where there were far fewer private schools and no sschool uniforms.

Social Class

Social class is commonly an important factor in clothing and fashion, especially before World War II. Many of the German boys we notice wearing Eton collars seem to come from affluent (both middle-class and upper-class) families. This is just our preliminary assessment at this time. Of course it is a little tricky assessingh this from unidentified photographs. Upper-class Germans may have been flunting an English look--considerd vety fashionable among some German circles. A similar phenomenon occurred in America. Eton collars seem less common almong the working class. In Britain the Eton collar was widely worn by boys of all classes. This seems to be less true in Germany. We are not sure if this image changed over time.

Terminology

I'm not sure what the collars were called in German.

Characteristics

And many of the Eton collars we have found in Germany do not look quite as large or as severe as those worn in Britain.

Gender

We are not sure if German girls wore these collars.






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Created: April 4, 2002
Last updated: 1:40 AM 6/3/2009