Figure 1.--This unidentified Dutch photograph shows a young Dutch family about 1930. Notice the boys bangs and strap shoes. |
|
A view of Dutch families over time provide an interesting overview of clothing trends. These images are especially helpful as they provide
some idea of the type of family the boy came from and thus an indicator of which boys were wearing specific styles. These family images hlp to put boys' fashionsin context. Familiy photographs also provide information on what type of clothing other members of the family were wearing at any given time, including brothers of other ages, sisters, and parents. This will also help date some of the unidentified images that HBC has required.
This unidentified Dutch photograph shows a young Dutch family about 1930 (figure 1). Notice the boys bangs, short-cut short pants, and strap shoes. They seem to be a young family, although the boy looks to be about 4 years old, suggesting they have been married about 5 years. Almost cerainly he is the only child. This is an indicator that the Dutch like other Europeans are having smaller families. The boy's knit top was presumably knitted by mother or more likely grand mother. (Mother here looks like a modern young lady.) Notice how perfectly cut the boy's bangs are. Also notice how perfectly cuffed the boy's kneesocks are. We believe that he was rather doted on by his parents, although it is a little strange that mother is not holding the boy's hand.
We note an undated Dutch family snapshot. It looks to us that it was taken in the 1930s, perhaps the late 1930s. The family has three children, two boys and a girl. The boys are older teenagers. One boy wears a long pants suit and the others a knickers suit. Unfortunately the image is quite small makng it difficult to assess the age of the individuals. We have noted Dutch boys wearing knickers even in the 1940s and early 50s. This boy appears to be wearing above the knee knickers, somewhat unusual for an older boy.
We have found some images of Dutch children wearing smocks. Unfortunately in many cases we do not know much about the images making it difficult to understand the conventions involved. One example is some Amsterdam children in 1933. Here we have a family photogrph of three children. We would guess that they are siblings. It isn't quite clear to me whether the child on the left is a girl or a boy, but I assume the child is a girl because of the longish haircut. The two older children look to be about 11-9 years of age. Their little brother looks to be about 6 years old. Now perhaps he is a cousin or a neigbor, but the body languages certainly suggests that he is the little brother. This looks to be a family snapshot and not a studio portrait. Note the flowers in the background as though the photographer was attempting to make a somewhat staged photograph. Two of the children are dressed identically in what look like smocks--perhaps school smocks. We have some questions anout the children's clothes.
The 1940s was a very difficult year for Dutch families. The Germans during Wold War II occupied the Netherlands (May 1940). The defeat of the Dutch Army was accomplished in only a few days and except in Rotterdam very little damage done. Except for Jewish families, Dutch families were not at first greatly affected. As the War dragged on, shortages of food and consumer goods like clothes and shoes developed. In this enviroment there was virtually no change in fashion, sty;es from the 1930s persisted. While little damage was done during the German 1940 offensive. the same was not the case with the Allied liberation. The Allies liberated the Netherlands south and west of the Rhine (September-October 1944), but the failure of Operation Market Garden left the Dutch beyond the Rhine still in German hands. Abd to punish the Dutch for their Allied sympathies, the Germans cut off food supplies. By the times the Allies finally crossed the Rhine and reached the Dutch (March 1944), they were starving. The immeditate post-War years afyer linration, continued to be diddicult with clothing scarce and families without adequate incomes. This did not begin to chnge until the end of the decade with the Marshall Pln (1948) and the first tenative steps toward European integration.
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Introduction]
[Activities]
[Biographies]
[Chronology]
[Cloth and textiles]
[Clothing styles]
[Countries]
[Families]
[Girls]
[Topics]
[Bibliographies]
[Contributions]
[FAQs]
[Glossaries]
[Images]
[Links]
[Registration]
[Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Dutch pages:
[Main Dutch family page]
[Maiken Island]
[Dutch choirs]
[Dutch royalty]
[Dutch scouts]
[Dutch school uniform]
[Dutch boys bangs]
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing national pages:
[Return to the Main Dutch page]
[Australia]
[Belgium]
[England]
[France]
[Germany]
[Ireland]
[Italy]
[Japan]
[Korea]
[Mexico]
[Scotland]
[United States]