Figure 1.--Fashion can be traced to the dawn of human conciousness. It is common treated as a trivial matter, but fashion and clothing aere of considerable economic importance. It was textiles that were at the heart ofvthe indistrial recolution. Fashion also provide insights into both soviological as well as historical trends, At the time this photograph was taken, Europe was engaged in a massive arms race, including a naval arms race between Britain and Germany. What we are not sure of is where these boys are from.

A reader asks, "Are these American boys? Or German? You don't say in the caption. We are not sure where these boys are from. There was no indication on the back. The image was not identified, that is why we used it for the chronology section. I would not have guessed German. The boy in his knicker suit and long black stockings looks American to me. The younger boys look more English with short socks. The hats, scarves, and short socks don't look American to me. They look more English to us. Canadian is a possibility. (The eBay seller was Canadian.) The sailor scarves often can be used to identify German boys, but we do not get a good look here. From what I can see this does look German. Perhaps HBC readers might have a thought here. A German reader writes, "Difficult. Some German styles and some U.S. styles. Some styles I don't know."

Created: October 10, 1998
Last updated: 11:18 PM 7/25/2010