Figure 1.--Here we see two brothers from Aachen. The portrait is unidentified. We are not sure how to date it. We would tend to date in to the early 1870s, but the late 60s is possible. Notice that the boys are wearing their tunics with long pants. Image courtesy of the BP collection.

We note boys wearing tunics in the early 19th century. It seems to appear at that time. We do not note them in the 18th century. HBC has noted boys in the early 19th century wearing tunic outfits in England and France. We have very little information on the extent to which this style was also worn in Germany. We notice tunics throughout the 19th century in France and American boys wore them at least by the mid-19th century. We do not begin to notice many German boys wearing them until the turn of the 20th century, buy this may because our information on German styles during the 19th century is still very limited. We do have some images from the mid-19th century. It is likely that the tunic style in Germany was comparable to other countries in Western Euroope. Some of the images are difficult to assess. We do not believe, however, that German girls commonly wore tunics.

1800s

HBC has noted boys in the early 19th century wearing tunic outfits in England and France. We have very little information on the extent to which this style was also worn in Germany. This may because we have realtively few German artists in our art archives at this time. Such portraits in the era before photography are a primary source of information.

The 1820s

The earliest image of German boys wearing tunics are rather classically-styled white tunics worn by brothers Ernst and Albert of Saxe Couburg Gotha with their mother about 1823-24. This of course is the Albert who who as a young man would marry the very young Queen Victoria. We have earlier European images, so we think that tunics were worn earlier in Germany, at least by aristocratic boys. This is, however, the earlist German image we have found to date.

1850s

We notice tunics throughout the 19th century in France and American boys wore them at least by the mid-19th century. The fact that our information on German tunics is very limited from this period is probably because we have so few 19th century German images. As a result, our information on German styles in general during the 19th century is still very limited. We believe that it is likely that German boys from moiiddle-class or affluent families commonly wore tunics in the mid-19th century.

1860s

We are unsure how to the date the Aachen brothers here (figure 1). It could be the late 1860s, but collars in the 1860s were quite small. The slightly larger collars styles to us suggest that this portrait may have been taken in the early 70s. Difficult to tell. We note quite a number of portraits that seem to have been taken in the 1860s wuth German boys wearring various syles of tunics. All are worn with a belt. This appears to have been a military look. A belt over a tunic has not real practical purpose. The boys wering tunics seem to be up to about 20 years of age. These were collarless garments. We see them with different styles of shirt collars. Collar In most cases they are wearing long pants. This appears to have been a style particulsarly popular in Germany. We see relarivcely few American boys wearing tunics in the 1860s.

1870s

It is likely that the tunic style in Germany was comparable to other countries in Western Europe. We do have one image from the 1870s and the boys outfit looks comparable to similar outfits boys wore in America, England, and France. These were outfits for younger school age boys, but we are not sure about the age range. The one inage we have shows a boys wearing his tunic suit with a ruffled collar and bloomer knickers. We beleve that the bloomer knickers were common. We are less sure about the ruffled collars.

1880s

The tunic was essentially a very simple garment which was one of its advantages and while it persisted for such a long time as a boys' garment. While pratical, it could also be worn when dressing up. We are not sure how popular tunics were in Germany during the 1880s. We do see portraits of boys wearing them, but we can not yet reasonably assess the relative popularity. Our photographic archive is fairly limited. The 1880s was when the Fauntleroy craze appeared after the publication of her book, Little Lord Fauntleroy. We thus see some German boys wearing tunics with Fauntleroy touches and trim. We are not sure yet how common this was.

1890s

Tunics became a major style in Europe and America. The tunic never disappeared during the 19th century, but in the 1890s in became a major style. The time line varied somewhat from country to country. We are not entirely sure about the chronology. We note tunics becoming a major style in Germany during the mid-1890s. This seems a little earlier than in America. We note different styles of tunic suits. Sailor tunics were especially popular. We note sailor tunics with both traditional styling and rather elaborate, fancy styling, including ruffels and lace. White was very popular, but they were done in different colors as well. Most tunic suits were dome with ornamental belts. Most were done with bloomer knickers.