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Only limited information is available at this time on the garments worn by Danish boys. Younger Danish boys as in the rest of Europe wore dresses. Play suits became more common by the 1920s. Younger boys wore dresses and other skirted garments as in the rest of Europe. Smocks were not very common, but were worn--mostly by boys from affluent families. We know that sailor suits were very popular in Denmark. The Danish princes were commonly photographed wearing sailor suits. The styles we have seen were very traditionally styled. Boys mostly wore kneepants in the late 19th century, but gradually changged to short pants after the turn of the century. Older boys might wear knickers. Sweaters were a very popular garment given Denmark's northern location and often chilly weather. Younger boys after breeching might wear a play suit. These suits often had Russian square collars. These suits appeared in the 1900s and were commonly worn in the 1910s. They declined in popularity after the 1920s.
We note Danish boys wearing the same neckwear styles as in the rest of Europe. German styles appear heavily influenced by German styles. We have, however, only begun to acquire images depivting Danish neckwear.
Younger Danish boys as in the rest of Europe wore a variety of skirted outfits. We have noted boys wearing both dresses and skirts. This appears to have been the case in both wealthy and modest income families. Breeching often occurered at about 5 years of age. We do not know of any destinctive dress styles worn by Danish boys, but our information is very limited. We do not know if they wore kilts, but we have noted plaid-like skirts. Smocks were not very common, but were worn--mostly by boys from affluent families.
Danish boys like other European and American boys commonly wotre blouses in the 19th century. We do not yet have much information on Danish shirts and blouses. We suspect that shirt and blouse tops were very similar to those in neigboring Germany--a much larger country with a far greater market and clothing industry. This is what we see with other garments worn by boys. And what we have found with the small number of images we have srchived from Denmark. We note boys at the turn-of-the century wearing blouses with floppy bows, although not the huge floppy bows we see American children wearing. The collars were similar to those wirn by German boys, much ore modest than those worn by American boys at least in the late-19th century.
We have very limited information about rompers in Denmark. That reflrcts our limited Danish archive rather than any reflection on the actual prevalence of ropers in Denmark. Rompers were primarily a French style, but we see them being worn in other countries as well. As in France, rompers seems primarily a garment worn by boys. This is, however, only our initial assessment. We see both play and dress frompers. We think that trends were somewhat similar to those in Germany, although dress rompers do not seem common in Germany. We see Danish boys wearing rompers in the 1910s. The firstr exmple we have is a boy wearing a sailor-styled romper suit in the Danish West Indies (about 1915). One portrait of a unidentified Danish boy in 1942 looks to be a blue velvet romper suit. We note some images of Danish boys wearing rompers. One example is Bohr family in the 1950s. So far we have only found romper suits and not the various permutations such as strap and bib-front rompers, but this is probably because oif our small archive.
Sailor suits have been one of the most popular styles worn by Danish boys. I'm not sure when the style became popular, but it was a favorite with parents by the 1880s and popular with boys as well. They were mostly worn with knee pants and long stockings, depending on the age of the boy, until the 1910s when short pants became more popular. Some mothers dressed through the 1920s might dressed all of the children in sailor suits, until the boys were well into their teens. We note quite a wide age range among the boys wearing sailor suits. They were not just worn by younger boys. We do noy have a very large Danish archive, but we can see Danish boys wearing sailor suits into their mid-ttens at least boys 16 years old, perhaps older. This tended to be the case on thE cininent, but we note quite a few older Danish boys wearing sailor suits. The boy here is a good example. He is 15 years old (figure 1).
A suit is a set of clothing intended to be worn together. Normally suit garments are made of the same material, but there there are some exceptions. The basic suit garments were the jacket or coat and matching trousers. While this was the basic compnents of the suit, they were of course done in many different styles. There were also three-piece suits. The three-piece suits came with vests (waistcoats). The vests were normally made of the same material as the jacket and trousers, but some 19th century vests were made to contrast with the rest of the suit. There were also suits with matching caps, but this was much less common. We do not know of any destinctive Danish suit styles. The suits we have noted seem very similar to English styles.
Younger boys after breeching might wear a play suit. These suits often had Russian square collars. These suits appeared in the 1900s and were commonly worn in the 1910s. They declined in popularity after the 1920s.
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