Figure 1.-- The German boy in the 1950s wears his Lederhosen with a colored shirt and patterened knee socks. Note that even though the boy here is dressed casualy, he has buttoned his shirt.

Lederhosen might be worn with folk costumes, but more commonly they were worn with regular clothes. German boys wore Lederhosen with a wide variety of other garments. This was the case because Lederhosen were worn for many different occassions from play, school, casual occassions, and even dressing up. As aresult we see boys wearing Lederhosen with "T"-shirts as well as many different collared shirts. Colored check shirts are often associated with Lederhosen, but white shirts might be worn when dressing up. They might even be worn with a suit jacket for more formal occassions. Bavarian Alpine jackers were especially popular. They were also worn with arange of hosiery from ankle socks to long stockings. Many boys worethem with knee socks. As with other garments both chronological trends abnd seasonality were factors in the choice of these garments.

Folk Costumes

Today lederhosen in the popular mind are increasingly seen as folk costuming. In many countries such as the United States the only time one sees lederhosen is at German ethnic events such as October Fests. In Germany and other Alpine countries they are increasingly worn by boys or adults participating in folk festivals. Currently they are most commonly worn at folk festivals and other such events. Boys are much less likely to wear lederhosen for play, but may wear them at a folk costume. Lederhosen are not new as a folk costume. HBC has noted them being worn as folk costuming in the early 20th century. What is different now is that earlier they were also worn for other purposes as well. Today folk costuming is becoming the primary use for lederhosen.

Accessoroies

A variety of accessories are worn with different types of lederhosen. Hosiery can also vary.Lederhosen were normally worn with front suspenders (straps/braces) that cross over in the back, rather like suspender shorts. Lederhosen did not originally come with belt loops. Modern lederhosen, especially those worn by Scouts, however, however, have been made with belt loops. The straps were often elaborately decorated with embroidered designs (ausziehr). There are several styles of suspenders. Norwegerhosenträger braces for lederhosen has instead of a cross-bridge at chest-height, has two usually woven belts before the stomach, flowing together in direction of the flap and are supported at the middle pants-head. Through five instead of four stops, this type of the suspenders is especially for heavy lederhosen ideally and is often used for kniebundlederhosen. Lederhosen were commonly worn with both kneesocks and split socks (loferl). The split stockings consist of a calf band and a foot part. Loferls were particularly common in areas of Upper-Bavaria when wearing short pants lederhosen (kurze lederhosen). The knicker-length lederhosen were always worn with kneesocks. The shorts style was worn with both kneesocks and the cloth band. During the summer boys might also wear them with ankle socks. Some boys and men wore a hat with a Gamsbart (beard of a chamois) or a bird feather.

Regular Clothes

Lederhosen might be worn with folk costumes, but more commonly German boys worn them with regular clothes. This was especially the case outside of Bavaria where German boys were less likely to have folk costume garments. Until World War II, Lederhosen were proimarily Bacarisan regional dress, but this began to change after the War. German boys wore Lederhosen with a wide variety of other garments. This was the case because Lederhosen were worn for many different occassions from play, school, casual occassions, and even dressing up. As a result, we see boys wearing Lederhosen with "T"-shirts as well as many different collared shirts. Colored check shirts are often associated with Lederhosen, but white shirts might be worn when dressing up. They might even be worn with a suit jacket for more formal occassions. Bavarian Alpine jackers were especially popular. They were also worn with arange of hosiery from ankle socks to long stockings. Many boys wore them with knee socks, but as ankle socks became more popular we see them as well, especially by the 1960s. As with other garments both chronological trends and seasonality were factors in the choice of these garments.

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Created: 1:32 AM 8/20/2007
Last updated: 9:58 PM 12/26/2009