Figure 1.--This CDV portrait show two unidentified children, presumably siblings. They look to be about 3-6 years old. The boy wears a large broad-brimmed straw hat. His big sister also wears a large hat. We are not sure how to describe it, but it looks fluffy and fancier than her brother's hat. It even has a bow odly placed. Perhaps the girl had a hair bow. They are holding toys. The girl holds a toy doll. The boy holds a toy sheep on a rocking platform. The portrait is undated, but looks to us like the 1890s. The studio is Hub. Gossens in Liege.

We have noted Belgian boys wearing a wide range of headwear, including berets, hats, and caps. The beret as in France was common for many years. It is probanly the headwear most associated with Belgian boys. The popularity of berets basically followed the same time line and conventions as berets in France. Hats predominated in the 19th century. We begin to see more boys wearing caps in the 20th century. Caps with military styling seem to have been popular. We note boys in the 1930s wearing peaked caps that look rather like a combination between British school caps and flat caps. Wide-brimmed hats were popular for younger boys in the late-19th and very early-20th century. Both boys and girls woire them, although girls also wore fancier hats of similar size that boys did not wear. As in other European countries sailor styles were very popular, done as both caps and hats. Our coverage of Belgian headwear is still fairly limited. Belgium is a rather small country anbd thus our archive is niot as substantial as the larger countries like Britain, Feance, and Germany. The popular headwear types seem to have been primarily influenced by France.

Berets

The headwear most associated with Belgian boys is probably the beret also worn by French boys. I'm not sure when Belgian boys first began wearing berets. The chronology is probably similar to trends in France. I think it was more commonly worn by French than Dutch speaking Belgian boys. After World War II, however, the beret was no longer commonly worn by Belgian boys. In America the beret is more associated with girls than boys. This was not the case in Belgium, France, and Spain where the beret was worn by men and boys and not girls. The beret was primarily a boys' garment. We are unsure to what extent girls may have worn them. The image here suggests that boys pulled their berets over their ears in the winter. The boy here wears a green beret in this post card which has had color painted in. We think that black berets were the most common type.

Caps

We begin to see more boys wearing caps in the 20th century. Caps with military styling seem to have been popular. We note boys in the 1930s wearing peaked caps that look rather like a combination between British school caps and flat caps. We see many boys wearing sailor caps, especially in the 20th century.

Flat caps

Forage caps

We see a few boys wearing forage caps during World War II. This wasnot a common style, but we have noted a few examples in the photographic record. The forage was a military-style cap similat to the Scottish Glengary. Many different terms were used for it in America, including the garrison cap, wedge cap, flight cap, and overseas cap. We are not sure what the name of these caps were in Belgium. The German term "Schiffchen" (little ship) msay have been used in Flanders. The origin of the caps in Frsnce differed from the Glengary, but the Belgian caps were probably influenced by the Germans. Boys wore the caps because of youth group uniforms. We think hat this was porimarily World War II, pri-NAZI youth groups, but we have few details at this time.

Military peaked caps

Fashionable boys wore military styled peaked caps. We are not sure, but believe these caps appeared in the mid-19th century. We notice them as late as the 1930s. I have not noted them in the 1940s, but our information is limited. I believe this was a common style for schoolwear. I am not sure, however, if they were actaul uniform caps. We note that some were worn with tassles. Here we are not sure if this was meerly decorative or some sort of award earned at school.

Peaked caps

We note boys in the 1930s wearing peaked caps that look rather like a combination between British school caps and flat caps. An example are the caps worn by Brussels brothers in 1932.

Hats

Hats predominated in the 19th century. Wide-brimmed hats were popular for younger boys in the late-19th and very early-20th century. Both boys and girls wore them, although girls also wore fancier hats of similar size that boys did not wear. The hats the children here are wearing are a good example (figure 1). As in other European countries sailor styles were very popular. The brad-brimmd hat was often seen as a sailor styule, although worn with many different outfits and not just sailor suits.

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Created: October 31, 2002
Last updated: October 31, 2002