Figure 1.--Here we see German children going to school in the norning, probably during the 1930s. Notice the weather is warm. The boy in the middle has rolled down his long stockings, either because of the weather or because he didn't like wearing them. Notice that the socks and stockings are all tan. One of the interesting aspects of these old German photographs is how few cars and trucks are on the streets. Click on the image for a fuller discussion.

The conventions for wearing lock stockings varied over time. Children in the 19th century commonly wore long stockings all year round and not only during cold weather. They were not really seasonal wear.nnFor much of the century it was not considered proper for the legs to show, except for very young children. Children might wear heavier stockings during the winter, but wearing stockings all year round was very common. This became an issue when pants and skirts began to become shorter. Formality was not a major issue as people at the time tended to dress more formally than is the case today. This began to change around the turn-of-the 20th century when socks began to become acceptable. While younger children might wear three-quarter socks, it was considered more appropraite for older children to wear long stockings with kneepants. This was especially true for formal occassions such as Church. After World War I, we not only begin to see children increasingly wearing socks, but short pants and skirts began to be worn above the knee. It is at this time that stockings began to be seen as cold weather wear. The shorter pants abd skirts meant that the long stockings were more needed for warmth than when psnts and skirts were longer. Sone children stull wore long stockings all year round, but this rapidly declined in the 1920s and we see in the photographic record that long stockings were worn when the weather turned cool. We also notice a shift to beige and tan colors. While modesty declined as a factor, we increasingly see long stockings being worn for formality, here color was often a factor, Note that almost all boys wear long stockings in First Communion and Confirmation portraits taken before World War I (1914-18). After the War, boys wearing short pants suits with kneesocks for formal events become much more common, but they often swithed to long stovkings in the winter.