Figure 1.--Here we see a brother and sister in nostalgic, ethnic dress. The fact that a studio haf this set up shows that such portraits were popular. The boy wears Lederhosen. The girl wears a Dirndl. The portrait was printed as a pstcard and mauled in 1908.

We do not notice many boys wearing Lederhosen in the 1900s, but we do see some boys wearing them. We have some images that could have been taken in the 1900s, but are undated. When children were photographed, girls were costumed in drindles. We are not entirely sure of the conventions, but they seem to be mostly tied up with ethnic costuming and a nostalgic looking back at pre-industrial Germany. Germany industrialized after the mid-19th century. Large numbers of rural Germans moved to the growing cities seeking industrial jobs. Thus by the turn-o-the 20th century many urban Germans looked back at their rural roots. As far was we can tell, Lederhosen were mostly worn in Alpine regions, Bavaria and Austria. They were not seen as boyswear as we also see adults wearing them. Some portraits show father and sons wearing Lederhosen. The portraits we have found are of affluent urban children. We are less sure to what extent they were actually worn by country children.

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Created: 8:19 PM 12/22/2007
Last updated: 8:19 PM 12/22/2007