German Boys Clothes: Family Trends--The 1920s


Figure 1.--Here we see a Germany family which appears to have had a photograph taken in their backyard. Unfortunately the family is unidentified. We do know that the photograph was taken during 1920. There are eight children. Curiously the children seem to all be about the same age. We would say that they range from about 10-16 years of age. We suspect that their masy be some twins. We believe that this was a prosperous middle-class family. Both the parents and children are well dressed. Note that several of the boys wear sailor suits, a very popular style for middle-class German families.

We have collected images from several German families during the 1920s. Yonger boys might wear button-on styles. We note that sailor suits wee still very popular, especially for middle-class families. The sailor suit styles were much more traditional thann the variety of styles noted before World War I. We note boys wearing the new sports collars as early as 1920. We also note that kneepants were gradually giving way to short pants. We notice H-bar shorts for younger boys. Long stockings were still very common, but mny boys were also wearing kneesocks. High-top shoes were still common, but we see some boys wearing strap shoes. The girls all wear dresses. We note several girls with pigtails. Boys have short hair cuts, but the very short-cropped styles common in the early 20th century were somewhat less common in the 1920s.

Middle Class Family (1920)

Here we see a Germany family which appears to have hd a photograph taken in their backyard. Unfortunately the family is unidentified. We do know that the photograph was taken during 1920. There are eight children. Curiously the children seem to all be about the same age. We would say that they range from about 10-16 years of age. We suspect that their masy be some twins. We believe that this was a prosperous middle-class family. Both the parents and children are well dressed. Note that several of the boys wear sailor suits, a very popular style for middle-class German families. Note the boy at the far left. He is not wearing a sailor suit, but either had one or just stopped wear one. Note the sailor dickey. Also note te sports collars that some of the boys wear. The girls wear dresses. Pinafores are still worn, but not as commonly as in the 1910s. Note one girl wears a pinafore over her dress.Notice one of the firls who has braids and pigtails.

Proppe Family (about 1920)

The Lebensreform movement was very critical of industrialization, and had the motto "Zurück zur Natur" (Back to Nature). It influenced the health care, diet, and clothing. These movements often found inspiration in ancient cultures, especially the Greeks. They promoted the Freikörperkultur (free body culture, i.e. nudism) and comfortable clothing. An example here is the Proppe family about 1920. The photo shows the family of Hans Proppe. He was born in 1875 in Cologne. He studied space art or interior decoration in Mainz and Berlin. From 1904 he taught in Trier at the School of Arts, where he knew also the architect Heinrich Tessenow. The photo was taken in summer 1919 or 1920. It shows Hans Proppe with his family in their backyard. They are wearing a clothing that looks vaguely like ancient Greek clothing. The Greeks were generally preferred over the Romans as they were seen as more artistic and less ,ilitaristic. The ideal of " Back to Nature" is express also by the lack of any footwear. It was not that unusual for children to go barefoot, but it was for adults.

Unidentified Middle-class Famlily (about 1920)

This postcard-back family portrait comes without any information. The only thing on the back is Foto Bayer in small print. The portrait is almost certainly German. There are parents with two boys about 10-14 years old. The fathers dress suggests the 1910s. Mother's blouse and skirt could also be the 1910s or early-20s. She is dresed rther plainly compared to her husband. They are wearing matching traditionally styled long pants sailor suits. Sailor suits were very popular boy' wear in Germany durung the early-20th century. The only difference is the younger boy wears matching soft sailor cap while his older brother her wears his school cap. We suspect that it was taken in the very early-1920s, in part because of the younger boy'bangs. Close-copped hair was much more common in the 1910s. While weare guessing the early-20s, it could easily be the late-1910s. We can't see his older brother's hair. Also this doesn't look to us like a war-time image which is why we think it may be about 1920. THis was a very difficult time in Germany. So we think that many people coninued wearing 1910s clothing in the early-20s. While dating the image is difficult we are more confident in our assessment of a middle-class image. Here the sailor suits are a good indicator.

Rosemarie's Family (1920s)

Album1900 has prepared a lovely collection of images of a Germasn family in the 1920s. The collection focused on a new baby--Rosemarie. As Rosmarie groiws up we see her brother, parents, extended family and friends. Album1900 tells us, "Rosmarie's Album invites us to a journey through the 1920ies. The Album is filled with about 160 pictures and lovely poems written probably by her Mum. About 60 of these pictures were chosen to be presented in this exhibition. The album tells us that Rosmarie was probably born in December 1922 somewhere in southern Germany, maybe in the Bavarian town Hof. We can see Rosmarie growing up starting with pictures from Christmas 1922. The journey ends with a picture from Christmas 1929. So we get an idea about family life, toys, fashion, holiday and much more of a time 80 years ago."

Middle Class Family (1920s)

We know nothing about this family portrait except that it is German. It is not dated, but looks to us to have been taken in the 1920s. The white margin on the snapshot clearly indicates the photograph was taken after Workd War I. The boy's sailor suit is difficult to date, but the girl's dress lloks like the late 1920s to us. There are two boys. The younger boys wears a button on blouse and knee pants. The older boys wears a traditional summer sailor suit, but with dark long stockings. The family looks like a prosperous middle-class family. We have no idea where in German the photograoh was taken. The photograph provides an interesting look at a backyard. The home in the background shows that they lived in a nice neighborhood.

Middle Class Family (1920s)

We know nothing about this family portrait except that it is German (figure 1). It is not dated, but looks to us to have been taken in the 1920s. A boy might have worn a sailor suit like this in the 1910s. Notice the kneepants rather than short pants. His parents clothes look like post-World War I clothes to us. The family looks like a prosperous middle-class family. We have no idea where in German the photograoh was taken. The photogrph has a white border suggesting a post-World War I snapshot, but the pose and background look like a professional portrait. Notice the small size of the family. Declining birth rates was an issue that the NAZIs wrestled with when they seized power in the 1930s. Notice the small size of the family. Declining birth rates was an issue that the NAZIs wrestled with when they seized power in the 1930s.

Middle Class Family (1920s)

Here we have a substantial middle-class family. We would guess from the clothing which was not elegant, that they were a family in comfortable, but not affluent circumstance. Unfortunately the snapshot portrait is unidentified. Thus we do not know where they lived or their name. We would guess the photograph was taken in the 1920s. There were four boys and a girl along with grandfather. The two older boys wear short pants suits with sports collars and short pants with long stockings. It does not seem to be particularly cold. So the long stockings do not seem to be worn for warmth. They are somewhat lighter colots than the black long stockings commonly worn before World War I. The younger boy has a short pants suit with a Peter Pan collar. Unlike his older brothers, he wears knee socks.

Unidentified Family: Park Outing (1920s)

This smart looking German family is out for a walk in the local park. The whole family dressed up for the outing. The girl wears a plaid frock and carries a little purse. . Her little brother wears a sailor suit. Both children wear sailor caps. It might have been a little chilly because the boy wears a coat. It is open suggesting it was not very chilly. Bith children wear long stockings. Mother has a helmet-style cap. Father wears a homberg and has a walking cane.

Sisters (1920s)

Here we see four German sisters. I'm not sure if there were any brothers in the family. Nor do we know yet just where in Germany they lived. The family snapshor is interesting because it shows several important fashion trends. Two of the girls wear white hair bows. They all wear light-colored dresses. There hosiery differs, but all have white hosiery. They all wear black strap shoes. We are unsure to what extent the clothing variations are age related. Some of the clothing here was also worn by boys, especilly the white hisery and strap shoes. We suspect that because these styles were so popular with girls, they became less popular with boys.

Baumen Family (1923)

Here we see a family snapshot, the Baumen (writing indestinct) family during a snowy Decmber 1923. The two teenage boys apparently wore short pants year round. They look to be about 13-15 years old. During the cold winter weather they would wear long stockings to keep warm. They probably wore knee socks during the summer, except perhaps when dressing up for a formal occassion.

Unidentified Family (1924)

Here we see an unidentified German family. The children are all dressed in sailor suits. We do know that the portrait was taken in 1924. It illustrates the point that at least in some families, sailor suits were appropriate for all the offspring of a family from about 2-16 years of age. The age range varied somewhat over time. In this family snapshot the kids are lined up in the order of their seniority and physical height, making a pattern of conformity that could almost serve as an ad for the famous maker of sailor suits, Beyle. We take the ages of the children to be, in descending order about 15, 12, 10, 5, and 3 years. I wonder if the mother who dressed all her children so similiarly had a relative or husband in the navy and wanted to express her nautical enthusiasm to a great degree than most contemporary mothers. Perhaps this mother was just reflecting the popularity of the style to an unusual extent.

Unidentified Family (1925)

Here we see what looks lke a middle-class German family in 1925. Yhe background is a little difficult to figure out. The family is unidentified and we do not know where the family snapshot was taken. We see the mother and and an elderly couple, surely the children's grandparents. Father is probably taking the snapshot. There are four children, a teenage girl and three boys, two school age. The tennage girl wears a rather somber outfit. It is possible she is the youngest daughter of the eldely couple. The boys wear similat sailor suits. The two school age boys look to be about 7-9 years old. They wear identical traditional sailor suits with sailor blouses, knee pants, and black long stockings. The cadet-style school caps show that they were in schoo, presumably the same school. The younger boy wears a similar, but not identical sailor suit. He has a sailor cap and wears a belt over his sailor blouse. His long stockings seem to match the sailor suit.

Affluent Middle-class Family (1928)

This family had three boys age about 5-12 years of age. Based on how they are dressed and the hair cut, we would say the family was a very well-off middle class family. The clothes are very smart which and the boys have neatly combed hair. All three boys wear sailor suits. Sailor suits were very populr with middle- and upper-class failies. Less so with working-class families. We are not sure just why that was. The younger boy wears button-on sailor suit. We note other imagesof this boy and suspected that the parents doted on him. The two older boys wear idengtiocal standsard striped sailor blouses, although the wrist cuffs are different. The dickies have the stripes going horizontally. The boys ;ook about 5-12 years old. Their parents are elegantly dressed. They are in front of a traditional looking house with a white wall. The boys hair is all done differently. The younger boy has page boys bangs. They appear to be a very close family. The body posture is revealing. The parents and the older brother are all rather touchingly holding on to the younger boy. An the middle boy has his hand on the father's arm. The middle boy to the left needs glasses, but is not wearing them.

Father and Son (late 1920s)

Here we see a German boy at home with his father during the late 1920s or early 30s. We are not at all sure about the radiator in the rear. The boy wears a traditionally styled sailor suit, a very popular style in Germany at the time. Note how the boy's sailor scarfe is tied. This tight tie and white string was the most common approach. Many images archived on HBC are interesting, but some are especially poignent. It is often not exactly clear to me just why some of these images are especially powerful images. The snapshot here is one of those images. I think it captures the atmosphere of a German middle-class family.







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Created: 8:28 PM 6/25/2005
Last updated: 1:59 AM 4/16/2016