Figure 1.--This 1882 painting by Albert Roosenboom was entitled variously as the 'Red Hat' and the 'The Model". Rosenboom painted about 30 images like of middle-class children in comfortable circumstanes. Thechildre he painted akways wore socks rather than long stockings. American childen in comfortable circumstances almost always wore long stockings. Strangly for such a prolific artist, we know very little about the artist.

HBC still has very limited information on Belgian 19th century hosiery styles. We believe that Belgian hosiery trends have generally followed those in France, although Flemish boys were also influenced by Germany, perhaps through the Netherlands. This is something we need more information to asses properly. We have no information on the early- and mid-19th century. And for this period even photyoigraphy does not help. Unfortunately our Belgian photographic archive is very weak. And we have only a few painted portraits, mostly by one artist during the late century (1880s). Although very prolific, he is just one artist and only painted children in comfortable middle-class circumstances. We had thought that long over the knee stockings were common, although like in France, not nearly as common in America. This may have especially been the case in the winter. But it seems that many boys and girls in the comfortable middle-class were wearing socks rather than stockings. This was unheard of in America and would be more of a French than German influence.

Created: 11:15 PM 5/15/2025
Last updated: 11:15 PM 5/15/2025