German Long Stockings: Specific Ages


Figure 1.--These Berlin children were photographed, we think in the 1890s. The older boy looks to be about 13 years old. He wears a knee pants suit with black long stockings.

German boys during the late 19th- and early-20th centuries commonly wore long stockings. We notice boys wearing long stockings from about 1 year of age to 15-16 years, some times even older boys. But it was most common for school age boys, especially pre-teens. Commonly boys by 14 or 14 years of age stopped wearing long stockings. This of course varied over time and from country to country. A major factor was the age of boys wearing knee pants and short pnts. Germany was one of the countries where long stovkings were particularly ommon. A major factor was climate, but it was not just a matter of climate. Unfortunately the age of the children in many photographs is not dated. Here we have to guess about the ages. While perhaps not always precisely correct, these images still provide rough indications.

1 Year Old

We note very young children wearing long stockings. This included 1-year olds. We think it was less common for infants, but by age 1 boys were wearing long stockings. We are not entirely sure how common it was for the youngest children to wear long stockings, but we note enough examples in the photographic record to know that it was quite common. We note numerous family snap shots. A factor here is that while long stockings were common, boys commonly wore short psnts. Many boys did not even have long pasnts. Thus for warm in the winter we note boys wearing long stoickings, including of course 1 year old. It was especially common for young boys to wear long stockings in the colder months. We are less sure about the warm summer months.

2 Years Old

The pattern for 2 years ols seem to be very similar as that for 1 year olds. Both boys and girlsore stockings at this age. We believe thast it was primarily for warmth and not for formality or modesty as as was the case for older children. Thus the use of long stockings for 2 year olds seems highky seasonal. Of course the tounger the child the more concern over keeping them warm in cold seather as tey are less capable of looking after themselves. We see large number of 2 yerar olds both wearing and not wearing lon stockings. Formality does not appear to be a great concern at this age. A consideration for these younger age groups is that they are not capable of dressing themselves. And long stockings were aore complicated item than socks.

3 Years Old


4 Years Old

Long stockings were especially common for pre-school children. An example is Hans who looks to be about 4 years old. Another example is the Heim boys about 4 and 5 years old dressed alike. We note two unidentified boys riding a hobby horse about 19??. They look to be about 4-5 years old, also in the 1920s.

5 Years Old

We see an unidentified boy playing with blocks. He looks to be about 5 years old about 1920.

6 Years Old

Age 6 is the easiest age to find information on, because this was the age German children began school at 6 and parents loved to take first day school portraits. This unidentified boy in 1928 must be about 6 years old because it is his first day of class.

7 Years Old

We notice an unidentified boy sitting on a pillow during the 1920s. Another example is a farm boy about 7-8 years old wearing long stockings in the late 40s. We notice two brothers about 4 and 7 years with their mother during the 1940s.

8 Years Old

Notice these two unidentified brothers in the 1940s. The boy on the left seems to me about 8 years old and is a good example of a boy wearing long stockings at this age.

9 Years Old

We note an unidentified boy about 9-10 years old wearing long stockings for play during the winter in 1954.

10 Years Old

Most German boys at age 10 were wearng knee pants by the 1890s, mostly with long stockings. Almost all boys at age 10b wore long stockings. After World War I boys gradually shifted from knee pants to short pants. Knee socks became popuilat, but many boys continued wearing long stockings, especially during the winter. An example is a unidentified boy dressed cassually, perhaps fir school in the 1930s. We note most boys up to about 10 years weraring them. One example is a photograph of German brothers about 1952.

11 Years Old

Almost all German boys at age 11 wore long syockings before World War I. After the War it was more mixed. We see some 11 years old wearing kneesocks and others long stockings. It became to an extent seasonal. Another factor was formality. This produced some curious portraits and snapshots. After World War I we see long stocking becoming gradually associated with younger boys, yet for formal occassions even older boys might wear them. They alsp become increasingly seasonal. We note two brothers wearing long stockings in the 1920s. They look to be about 8 and 11 years of age. We notice a 1930s classroom with children who look about 11 or 12 years old. About half the boys seem to be wearing long stockings. We note an East German boy in a tree. He looks to be about 11 years old. We see a German boy dressed for First Communion at about age 11 in 1932.

12 Years Old

We see boys commonly wearing long stockings to about 12-13 years, although this varied some what chronolgically. A good example of a Germn boy about 12 years old is Herbert Kartliner in 1937. Another example is an unidentified boy in 1962. By this time long stockings had gone out of style in West Germny, but were still being worn to somecextent in East Germany.

13 Years Old

Age 13 was an age that parents began buying long pants for their sons, but this varied by family and chronologically. Knee pants did not become common wear for 13 year olds until the 1890s. It thus became common for 13 year olds to wear long stockings. Here we see a boy who looks to be about 13 years old wearing a knee pants suit with long stockings during the 1890s (figure 1). Knee socks began to become popular for boys in the 1920s, but boys still often wore long stockings during the winter or when dressing up. We notice a school scene in the 1930s. The children look to be anout 13 years old. One boy wears black long stockings. A reader writes, "These boys look to be teenagers and they are wearing long stockings at least the two whose legs are visible." An unidentified boy wears a sailor suit probably about 1910. He looks to be about 13 years old. Until the late 50s it was still common for 13 year olds to wear short pants. Boys at 13 generally preferred knee socks, but mothers for various reasons sometimes insisted on long stockings. Usually the reason was cold wether. But dressing up for formal occassions was another factor. We notice Yehudi Menuhin at age wearing long stockings. Some German boys at age 13 still wore long stockings, sometimes with long pants. We see an unidentified German boy about 13 wearing long stockings in 1957, by then it was becoming uncommon for teenagers, even younger teenagers to wear them. A problem in assessing the age of boys wearing long stockings is that it is often difficult to tell what kind of hosiery boys in long pants are wearing.

14 Years Old

A German reader tells us, "In my youth (born 1935) I wore brown long stockings in the winter up to 1949. This was the common colour for boy's stockings. The last stockings which my mother bought in fall 1948, however, were grey. Possibly, she couldn't find the brown ones anymore because of my size. I suppose that the grey cotton stockings were offered for girls and small adult females and therefore still available."

15 Years Old

Some German boys wore long stockings at age 15 years. This varied chronologically. I am not sure about the 19th century and early 20th century. We botice that after Workd War I during the inter-war era, that many German boys wore short pants. This was very common for school-age boys and younger teenagers. Families varied as to the age boys were allowed to wear long pants. Some boys may had got long pants at age 14. Age 15 was probably more common, although quite a number of 15 year olds still wire shorts. This was not just for casual wear, but also for school and dressing up. We think most 15 year olds wore knee socks with shorts, but some did wear long stockings. We think this may have been more for formality than warmth, but we are not entirely sure. A German reader writes, "As a boy in the 1930s, I noticed long stockings were very common. I wore them and so did many of my friends. I stopped wearing them when I was 12 years old and by age 13 there weren't to many boys still wearing them. I did see boys up to about age 15 wearing them, but this was not very common." In the difficult conditions following World War II, we ofren see 15 year olds wearing shorts, but very rarely with long stockings.

16 Years Old

We se realtively few 16 year old boys wearing long stockings. A factor here is that most boys by avout age 15 began wearing long trousers. This varies from family to family, but most boys by age 16 were wearing long trousers, at least for formalwear. We see some 15 and 16 year old boys wearing short pants suits, but the number was far fewer than youngerv boys. We have archived a few examples on HBC, although they are mostly estimated ages. An examole is an unidentified boy in a family snapshot during the 1930s. More common was wearing shorts for casual summer wear. And boys did not normally wear long stockngs for casual summer wear.







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Created: 7:16 PM 8/20/2007
Last updated: 12:10 AM 6/14/2009