German Pinafores: Chronology


Figure 1.--This German snapshot was taken in 1929. This boy appears to live on a farm--note the chicken. He is wearing a white short-sleeved shirt and short pants with long black stockings, and he has a sort of patterned pinafore prptecting his white shirt. It has straps over the shoulders and a cross-piece that meets in mid-chest. A reader writes, "I'm quite unclear as to what the purpose of these straps is; or are the straps merely decorative?" HBC believes that they are essentisally decorative. The boy is wearing dark canvas shoes--or plimsoles? And what is the white garment between the black stockings and the hem of the short trousers? Is this just his underwear showing? The stockings are quite long. The boy is obviously wearing a Leibchen with garters to hold up the stockings--which was the general habit in German in 1929. I'm guessing that this boy is about five or six years old.

Our chronological information on German pinafores, including pinafore smocks is still quite limited. We have no information on the 19th century yet. German boys appear to have worn these pinafore smocks in the early 20th century, before World War I (1914-18). The styles were very plain which appear to be a kind of boy-styled pinarore. So far we have only noted these pinafores in the early 20th century. We believe that the image on the previous page is such an example. As a result, we believe that the image shows a pre-World War I example of German boys wearing this pinafore smock at home. Of course it is always possible that our prelimanary assessment may be flawed based on HBC's still limited number of early European photographs. After World War I they appear to have declined in popularity. We do note images of younger boys wearing them in the 1920s. The snaphot here was taken in 1929 (figure 1). These garments appear to have persisted longer in rural areas. We think these pinafores generally disappeared by the 1930s, although some very young boys mat have worn them. A German reader who was a boy in the 1930s-40s reports, "I was not aware of „pinafore“ = „Schürze“ in Germany. In my youth, 1935 up, I suppose they were no longer commonly worn."

The 19th Century

Our chronological information on German pinafores, including pinafore smocks is still quite limited. We have very limited information on the 19th century at this time. We think that pinafores were fairly common in the 19th century, although we can not yet confirm that from the photographic record. We have no information on the early-19th century. And even after the development of photography, portraits showing children wearing pinafores are very rare. The pinafore was a utlitarian garment used to keep clothes clean at home. When the children were taken to the photographic studio for a portait, they were dressed in their best clothes, not utilitarian pinafores or even the fancier type. As the famioly amateur snapshot did not yet exist, it is difficult to see how children dressed at home. Thus the photographic record can be misleading. German photographic images before the introduction of the CDV (1860s) are relatively rate. The earliest German image we have comes from the 1870s. We do not yet have enough images to develop stylistic changes over time. The pinafore was more commonly worn by girls. Girls of all ages wore pinafores. We believe that younger boys wore pinafores, but can not yet confirm this or follow chronological trends..

The 20th Century

German boys appear to have worn pinafore smocks in the early 20th century, before World War I (1914-18). TWe have many examples of this given the exoplosion of amateur photography with the snapshot. he styles were very plain which appear to be a kind of boy-styled pinarore. So far we have only noted these pinafores in the early 20th century. We believe that the image on the previous page is such an example. As a result, we believe that the image shows a pre-World War I example of German boys wearing this pinafore smock at home. Of course it is always possible that our prelimanary assessment may be flawed based on HBC's still limited number of early European photographs. After World War I they appear to have declined in popularity. We do note images of younger boys wearing them in the 1920s. The snaphot here was taken in 1929 (figure 1). These garments appear to have persisted longer in rural areas. We note girls commonly waring them to school, but not boys. A good example here is the Altenau primary school in 1927. We think these pinafores for boys generally disappeared by the 1930s, although some very young boys mayt have worn them. A German reader who was a boy in the 1930s-40s reports, "I was not aware of „pinafore“ = „Schürze“ in Germany. In my youth, 1935 up, I suppose they were no longer commonly worn."







HBC





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Created: 3:50 AM 1/14/2006
Last updated: 11:50 PM 8/1/2011