Figure 1.--These German portrait is undated, but we believe that it was taken about 1905. For some reason the image was retouched, note the boy's eyes and slate cleaning rag ofall things. Note how the boy has been told to stand at attention. Image courtesy of the MD collection. The portrait was taken by Robert Kirchner. The incription reads Nieder-Salzbrunn, Am Bahnhof. |
Sailor caps and hats were popular in the 1900s. Some boys wore militar-style peaked caps. Another popular style were flat caps. Some boys wore Fauntlroy suits, but they were not as popular as in France and England. We notice many German boys in the 1900s wearing sailor suits, although we are not precisely sure just how commonly they were worn and under what circumstancdes. Germany at the time was involved in a naval arms race with Britain and a country' navy, especially battleships, were the hallmark of a great power. Boys also wear a variety of suits, most with kneepants and long stockings. Some boys wore short pants and kneesocks which the Scouts and Wandervogel help popularize.
A German reader reports that in KlickTel I found no Nieder-Salzbrunn but Salzbrunn which is a few km southwest of Berlin. A reader writes, "I have taken photographs in many different countries to which I have traveled. I note that often when I took photogrphds of children that many boys started to stand in attention on their own. It often took some tricks to make them to stand in a
normal way."
Sailor caps and hats were popular in the 1900s. Some boys wore militar-style peaked caps. Another popular style were flat caps. Some boys wore Fauntlroy suits, but they were not as popular as in France and England. We notice many German boys in the 1900s wearing sailor suits, although we are not precisely sure just how commonly they were worn and under what circumstancdes. Germany at the time was involved in a naval arms race with Britain and a country' navy, especially battleships, were the hallmark of a great power.
Boys also wear a variety of suits, most with kneepants and long stockings. Some boys wore short pants and kneesocks which the Scouts and Wandervogel help popularize.
German boys didn't have to wear any special uniforms to school, so they wore what ever their parents bought for them. A Polish reader reserching boys clothes in Breslau (now a Polish city) writes, "In magazines from the 1900s there were something like Schulanzugs (clothes considered as more elegant and 'correct' to school) and sailor suits weren't popular within them." This appears to have changed in the 1910s before and during the World War I when sailor suits became more popular. [Jankowski]
Jankowski, Tomasz. E-mail message, April 28, 2003.
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Return to the Main German early 20th century page]
[Return to the Main German page]
[Introduction]
[Activities]
[Bibliographies]
[Biographies]
[Chronology]
[Clothing styles]
[Countries]
[Contributions]
[FAQs]
[German glossary]
[Satellite sites]
[Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]