Figure 1.--This Austrain boy was photographed in Vienna during 1913. We are not sure quite what to call this suit. We think it is an Eron suit, although there aew some differences with classic Eron suits. We are unsure about the German inscription.

I have little information on Eton suits in Austria. I do think that the style was popular there. I noticed in images from Austrian schools that Eton collars were not very common, although a few or occasionally seen--worn disretely under the suit jacket. This is in sharp contrast to comparable English schools where they were very common. As Austrian schools did not require uniforms, group photos are a good reflection of contemporary Austrian boys'styles. Not only did some Austrian boys wear Eton collars, but we note a few images of boys wearing actual Eton suits--although there are some differences with the classic Eton suits worn by English boys.

Terminology

We are not sure what the German term for Eton suit is. We rather suspect it would be something like "Etonanzug". "Anzug" is the German word for suit so "Etonanzug" would be a likely construction. The inscription at the bottom of the page reads some thing like, "Zur freundlichen Erinnerung von Ihrem dankbaren Schueler ... Zoglauer". (The name is rather indistinct and could have been Goglauer. It is hard to decipher.) In English it means, "In friendly memory of your grateful student Zoglauer". Instead of "ue", the boy should have written "ü" (u-Umlaut, mutated vowel says my dictionary) like in Führer/Fuehrer. Reading the text, it looks to me that this boy had sent the picture to his teacher. Note that part of the written words are illegible. There perhaps is even a first name ... Zoglauer or an initial before the last name. Zoglauer is a family name. It looks as if the text was written before 1900. The hand writing looks as if a boy had written it.

Image

This Austrian boy was photographed in Vienna during 1913 (figure 1). He looks to be 11-12 years of age. We are not sure quite what to call this suit. We think it is an Eton suit, at least that is the cloesr we can come to describing it. Perhaps our HBC readers may know of a better description. There are some differences with classic Eton suits. It is a short jacket worn with an Eton-like collar, two principle chracteristics of an Eton suit. The Eton suit normally was a black jacket worn with stipped or black trousers. Here we are unsure what color the jacket may be. The waistcoat and trousers look to a very light color, but not white. His Eton collar is less stiff and does not stand up like a classic English Eton collar and he wears it with a small bow. Note the ruffled sleeve trim on his shirt. This was not common with classic English Eton suits. He wears his suit with white socks or stockings and patent leather pumps, suitable for a party or dancing.

An English reader writes, "Lovely portrait. The outfit is, however, so far removed from the classic English Eton suit that I wouldn't use that term here. An Eton suit was always sober in appearance."

Reader Comments

A French reader who has lived in Austria has provide some comments about this portrait. "Normaly in Austria before about 1940, people wrote with Gothic script. Only a few gentlemen of culture, wrote with the Latin letters before the 1930s. Perhaps it was the case for this student, especially when he was using of "ue" instead of " ü " The two letters "ue" give the text a literary dimension. [HBC note: Given is elegant suit, this boy must have come from an affluent if not wealthy family.] Austria by the 1950s had changed. The children in the school were only authorised to use the Latin writing, but all the adults could read and write Gothic script. Normaly about 1955, when I was in an Austrian school, we could use a pen for our own notes, but it was compulsory tho write the work given to the teacher with a feather pen ( Plume in french ) and we said: Federhalter greifen."

Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Return to the Main Austrian garment page]
[Introduction] [Activities] [Biographies] [Chronology] [Clothing styles] [Countries]
[Bibliographies] [Contributions] [FAQs] [German glossary] [Satellite sites] [Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]

Created: August 25, 2002
Last updated: September 6, 2002