Figure 1.--This boy we think in the 1910s wears a dark sailor suit with a large contrasting V-neck collar. His hair was cropped close, common with school-age German boys before World war I. His suit has bloomer knickers. The colors almost certainly was blue and white. The boy looks about 8 years old. His little sister in a while dress looks to be about 5 years old. Both wear black long stockings.

German boys wore sailor suits with several different types of pants. The popularity of the different types of pants varied over time. We not German boys wearing bloomer-like knicker-length pants with their sailor suits. By bloomer knickers we mean knee-length pants blouced with what look like elastic closures, but were probably draw string leg closures. These are different than regular knickers that Ametican boys wore that had butons or buckle knee closures. We see these pants at about the same time sailor suits first appeared, although they were not at first worn with sailor suits. They were worn by younger boys with a variety of different suits, some with fancy styling. I'm not sure precisely when they began to e worn with sailor blouses, perhaps the 1870s. We are still working on the chronology. They seem most prevalent at the turn-of-the 20th century. These bloomer knickers were very common in Europe, less so in America. There is often no way of telling from the pants, what country is depicted in an old photograph. HBC believes that bloomer knickers were more common in France than Germany, but we have only limited information at this time. We note them in the late-19th and early 20 century. We do have a few images archived on HBC of German boys wearing what look like bloomer knickers. A good example is a unidentified German boy about 1905. Boys wore both three-quarter socks and long stockings with these bloomer knickers.

Bloomer Knickers

German boys wore sailor suits with several different types of pants. The popularity of the dufferent types of pants varied over time. We noet German boys wearing bloomer-like knicker-length pants with their sailor suits. We are not sure what the German term for this was. Perhaps our German readers will know. By bloomer knickers we mean knee-length pants blouced with what look like elastic closures, at least this is what we first thought. But we have subsequently learned that they were probably draw string leg closures. These are different than regular knickers that Ametican boys wore that had butons or buckle knee closures. And we do not note the elastic knit closures Amerucan boys wore in the 1930s.

Chronology

We see these pants at about the same time sailor suits first appeared, although they were not at first worn with sailor suits. They were worn by younger boys with a variety of different suits, some with fancy styling. Long pants and knee pants may have been more common at first. We are not sure precisely when they began to e worn with sailor blouses, perhaps the 1870s. Our 19th century German archive is still fairly limited. We are still working on the chronology. But they seem most prevalent at the turn-of-the 20th century. We note them in the late-19th and early 20 century. We do have a few images archived on HBC of German boys wearing what look like bloomer knickers. A good example is a unidentified German boy about 1905. we do not see these bloomer knickers to any extent after World War I. Short pants after the War became more common with sailor suits.

Country Trends

These bloomer knickers were very common in Europe, less so in America. There is often no way of telling from the pants, what country is depicted in an old photograph. HBC believes that bloomer knickers were more common in France than Germany, but we have only limited information at this time.

Hosiery

Boys wore both three-quater socks and long stockings with these bloomer knickers. Long stocking seem most common in Germany. We notice the same trend with knee pants which were also widely worn in Germany.

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Created: 5:18 AM 12/10/2007
Last updated: 5:00 AM 7/4/2014