German Schoolwear: Chronological Garment Trends


Figure 1.--All we know about these German children is that they were from Werdau. I'm not sure how to date the portrait, but would guess the 1890s. The girl wears a dress, the boy a smock-like tunic.

We have noted substantial variations in the garments worn by German school children over time. We have very limited information on the 19th century until the later decades. We have very detaile information on the 20th century because of the abundance of available school photographs. German children did not wear school uniforms. Therefore they wore ordinarcy child and youth fashions. For many years children wore their better clothing to school, often dressing up. This varies somnewhat by academic level and chronolohical period. There was one exception here and this was the school cap. German boys wore a kind of peaked military cap to school. Not all boys wore them, but we note them both in primary and secondary schools. We are not sure when the German school cap first developed, but we note them in the early 19th century and they continued to be worn in the 1930s, but not after World War II (1939-45).

The 19th Century

We have very limited information on the 19th century until the later decades. We note military school caps in the 1820s after the Napoleonic Wars. We believe boys in the early 19th century commonly wore tunic suits. Skeleton suits may also be worn. Throough most of the 19th century we note boys wearing long pants. We are not sure when knee pants began to be worn, but we notice them being commonly worn by the 1890s, often with long stockings.

The 20th Century

We have very detailed information on the 20th century because of the abundance of available school pgotigraphs. German children did not wear school uniforms. Therefore they wore ordinarcy child and youth fashions. For many years children wore their better clothing to school, often dressing up. This varies somnewhat by academic level and chronolohical period. There was one exception here and this was the school cap. German boys wore a kind of peaked military cap to school. Not all boys wore them, but we note them both in primary and secondary schools. We are not sure when the German school cap first developed, but we note them being worn during the early 20th century. They continued to be worn in the 1930s, but not after World War II (1939-45). The sailor suit was very popular for German school children in the early 20th century. We also notive collar buttoning suits. Older boys might wear suits with lapels. Norfolk suits were quite popular. Many boys wore knee pants suits whic after World War I (1914-18) transitioned into short pants. Older boys might wear knickers or long pants. Boys wearing knee opants and short pnts commonly wore long stockings, although this was somewhat seasonal. Gradually schoolwear became more casual. Sseaters began to replae suit coats. The trend toward casual wear became increasingly prevalent after World war II. Short pants were common, but gradully long pants became increasingly prevalent.






HBC-SU






Related Chronolgy Pages in the Boys' Historical Web Site
[Main Chronology Page]
[The 1880s] [The 1930s] [The 1940s] [The 1950s]
[The 1960s] [The 1970s] [The 1980s]



Related Style Pages in the Boys' Historical Web Site
[Main school uniform page]
[Main country page]
[Long pants suits] [Short pants suits] [Socks] [Eton suits]
[Jacket and trousers] [Blazer [School sandals]



Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing School Uniform Pages
[Main German School Uniform Garment Page]
[Main German School Uniform Page]
[Australia] [England] [France] [Italy] [Japan] [New Zealand] [Scotland]
[United States]



Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Page
[Introduction] [Activities] [Biographies] [Chronology] [Clothing styles] [Countries]
[Bibliographies] [Contributions] [FAQs] [Glossaries] [Satellite sites] [Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]




Created: 6:34 PM 5/13/2007
Last updated: 6:34 PM 5/13/2007