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HBC at this time only has a few persoanal accounts about Dutch boys. Some are literary accounts that we have noted. Others are personal accounts that HBC readers have shared with us. Hopefully more Durch readers will add to these accounts as HBC develops so that we can better understand Dutch fashion trends and a little more about Dutch history and customs.
I was born in 1928. I grew up in a small village in a rural farming community. I can recall the kinds of clothes that we boys wore at the time, including what was worn at out local school.
Rien Poortvliet wrote a wonderful account of his childhood growing up in the Netherlands entitled Dutch Treats. It includes a section on the World War II era. The book is especially interesting to HBC because he describes his childhood clothing in some detail. He had definite likes and dfislikes. He wore a white sailor suit as a boy. He didn't like long stockings or woolen knit bathing suits. There is an English addition with a translation by Maria Milne. HBC readers would find the book an interesting read.
Frank Neijndorff has written a lovely account of his boyhood in the Dutch East Indies. It is titled Achterom Gekeken (A Backward Glance). The book gives an account of his boyhood growing up in the Dutch East Indies. Three periods are covered. First: the last years of undisputed Dutch colonial rule (1929-42). Second: World War II anf life under the Japanese occupation (1942-45). Third: the period after the War during which sovereignty over the archipelago was disputed between the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Indonesian Republic (1945-49) . The book may be ordered from the author. The author maintains a Dutch-language website.
Even though I was an American kid, the remains of WWII were immediate. My Grandfather called me aside once and I was ordered not to play with a certain kid-his father had been a collaborator. I remember my first long trousers for my First Holy communion. For the rest, shorts were worn. Much of the clothing was hand me down for families that had limited funds. Once I transferred to an American School in 1959, I thought I had gone to heaven.
I consider myself throughly Dutch, although I have spent part of my life in Belgium. Our family lived for several years in the Belgian Congo and much of my boyhood
was spent there. Just months after leaving the Congo, I was enrolled in a secondary school in Antwerp, Belgium. In the Congo, of course, I and my friends wore short
pants all the time in the hot tropical climate. Our Antwerp school had a uniform, but it was no longer strictly enforced. I was the youngest of my class and one of seven
or eight boys who were still wearing short pants. I continued wearing short pants to school until I was 16 years old. I generally wore lederhosen as I participated in an
Austraian and German Scout camps. Some Dutch boys at the time considered lederhosen too German. My parents were very interested that I learn English, which is
part of the reason that they sent me to Scotland for several summers. Some friends there wore kilts, I stuck to my lederhosen.
The strongest memories that I have about the clothes I wore as a boy was the short pants I wore as a little boy. After an embarassing experience as a younger boy in
Colorado, I was a little shy about wearing short pants. While I still wore shorts for play and casual wear, I never thought as a 12 year-old ready to begin 7th grade that I
would ever dress up in short pants and knee socks. That was, however. before my dad got a job in Paris and I found myself in Europe. After the school year finished in June 1964, we left Hawaii and took off for Europe. We spent the entire summer of 1964 touring Scandinavia, the Low Countries, and the British Isles before settling down in Paris. Every where we went, I saw European boys in short pants--often strikingly short and sometimes with knee socks, neckties and jackets.
An English boy and his brothers spent some time in Germany. His father was stationed there with the British military. Most of his time was spent in Germany. While in Germany they took trips to the Netherlands to camp and see the sights. He remembers a bot about how the German and Dutch boys dressed.
Dutch Boys' Clothes: Personal Experiences, 1960s-70s. As a small child before kindergarten I always wore shorts and rompers. I wore rompers until I went to kindergarten when I was 4 years old. They were mostly of solid color, but I do remember one of gingham. At that age, of course, it was your mother who decided what you wore and you didn't think anything about it. In kindergarten in the late 1960s I always wore shorts in summer and long pants in winter.
I was born on July 3, 1964 I grew up in the 1970s with a mother and father who were very strict and old fashioned. In my memories I wore all the time shorts and at an age most of my friends didn't wore them anymore. I thought my clothes were very childish and was teased a lot. I Had one comfort my nephews wore simular clothes although they were much younger.
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