German Boys' Clothes: Garments--Knee Pants


Figure 1.--This fascinating portrait shows a German boy and his mother. The portrait is undated. He wears a sporty flat cap with a necktie, kneepants a kneesocks. We would guess was taken in the early 1910s, but we are not at all certain.

We have relatively limited information on kneepants in Germany. We are unsure if there were any destinctive aspect of German kneepants. German boys began wearing kneepants after the mid-19th century, although HBC has little information on this period. By the late 19th century, kneepants were very common among German boys, even teenagers. We note many schoolboys wearing kneepants at the turn of the 20th century. This appears to have varried from family to family. Social class factors apparently were important. They continued to be worn through the 1910s, although short pants and knickers were becoming increasingly popular in the 1910s. We are unsure about the age conventions which apparently varied over time.

Terminology

We are not sure what German term or terms were used for knee pants in period German catalogs and fashion magazines during the late-19th and early 20th century. Our term knee pants is largely a creation for organizational simplicity. This was only one of the terms used for these pants. And despite the name, the pants until the late-19th century were worn longer thgan knee level.

Destinctive Features

We have relatively limited information on knee pants in Germany. We are unsure if there were any destinctive aspect of German knee pants. Knee pants had the the same common features noted in other countries. Fiest and most obvuiosly were the leg hem buttons. Not all knee pants had them in the 19th century, but they were very common. We still do not who created these pants, but they became popular throuhout Europe and North America. Nor do we know why they as in other countries vthe style was so popular. The buttons obviously relate to 19th century knee beeches, but why was this style revived for boys in the mid-19th century. Second was the knee length. Early knee pants were longer, but by the 1880s the pants began to be made cut a knee level. Third was the straight leg cut, often quite trim fitting in contrast to knickers which could blouse out considerably. Fourth was the open leg hem also in contrast to knickers whioch were closed at the knee hem. It is difficullt to destinguish between knee pants and long short pants. The knee buttons is the main destinguisjing feature. Most shorts were cut long in the 1920s, especially those worn by older boys. These two garments essentially merged as the hem buttons disappeared and the hem got shorter during the 1930s.

Chronology

German boys began wearing kneepants after the mid-19th century, although HBC has little information on this period. At first they were only worn by younger boys. Knee pants began to become common in the 1880s, especially for younger boys. A good exampe is unidentified German brothers. By the late 19th century, kneepants were very common among German boys, although we do not see older boys wearing them as was common in America. We note many schoolboys wearing kneepants at the turn of the 20th century. This appears to have varried from family to family. German boys continued to commonly wear kneepants through the 1910s, although short pants and knickers were becoming increasingly popular in the 1910s. Knickers did not like in America largely replsace knee pants in Germany. We still see knee pants in Germany during the 1920s and even the 1930s. The knee pants we see in the 1930se mostly formal suit pants. The chronology of knee psants is a little hard to assess, especially in the 1920s and 30s when short pants became poplar. This is because there was little difference between knee pants ad long short pants. Cetainly pants that touched the knee or extended below the knee were knee pants rather than short pants even if they did not have the leg hem buttons.

Social Class

Social class factors seem to be important. We do not fully understand this yet. We believe that in the 1870s and 80s when knee pants began to be important that they were most worn by boys from the more affluent classes. Wirking class boys were more likely to wear long pants. As long pants were going out of style in the 1930s, we believe that foirmsal knee pants suits were mostly won by middle-class boys.

Age

We are unsure about the age conventions associate with kneepants in Germany. They do appear to have varied over time. We notice boys as young as about 2-years of age wearing them. An example of a 2-year old is an unidentified boy. An example of a 3-year old is Fritzle in a 1879. German boys may have worn kneepants earlier than some boys in other countries because they seemed to have been breeched earlier. Long pants seem quite common in Grmany duting the late 19th century, but knee pants by the 1890s were increasingly common for boys. Most of the images we have found show primary school-age boys and younger teenagers wearing them. We note older teen agers wearing them as well. We are not sure, however that this was as common in Germany as it was in America.

Length

The first kneepants we nortice in germany are quite long. This was also the case in other countries, but this seema especiall true in Germany. Mamy boys wear kneepants that sometimes can not easily be identified as kneepants. Some boys wore kneepants that were so long that when worn with high-top shoes, on could not see the stockings. This is not something we have noted in America. American boys wore kneepants that were quite long in the 1860s and 70s, but not as long as the kneepants we have noted in Germany. Of course it is rather a strach to call pants at ankle length kneepants. Long-length kneepants appears to have been the prevalent style in the 1870s. We note much shorter kneepants by the 1890s. This length persisted in Germany throygh the 1910s until kneepants went out of style in the 1920s.

Hosiery

Most boys we have noted wearing kneepants in the mid-19th century wore stockings, although because the kneepants were often quite long, it is difficult to assess the length of the stockings. We simply do not know how long the stockings were in many 19th century portraits. We notice white and stripped stockings at the time. We assume the boys were wearing long stockings, but given the long length of the kneepants, the stockings did not need to be very long. By the turn of the 20th century we can see boys weating both socks and stovkings. We also note dark long stockings more commonly. Boys also began wearing three-quarter stockings and kneesocks as well.

Gender

As far as we can tell, only boys wore kneepants in Germany. Girls throughout thr 19th century and into the early 20th century were expected to wear dresses. Especially in the 19th century this was seen as in very poor taste. There may have been exceptions to this basic rule, but they are very rare indeed in the historical record. We have noted thousands of images of German and other European girls and have almost never seen girls wearing trousers of any kind. We have found very few exceptions to this.

Transitional Styles

Knee pants were of course a form of short pants. We have chosen to differentiate between knee pants and short pants. This is not a differentiation that was commonly made at the time. American and British catalogs often used varying terms for these pants, including lnee pants, knickers, and short pants. Generally there were clear differences between kneepants that were knee-length or longer or short pants whuch were above the knee. The ornamental buttons were also generally associated with kneepants. We see during the 1920s a blurring of the two styles. We see pants with the ornamental buttons cut above the knee. We also see pants at or below the knee without the ornamental buttons. The 1920s appears to be a kind of transitional era with this blirring of the two styles. By the 1930s shorts began to become shorter and knee pants disappeared as a formal style. We do see, howeber, the ornamental buttons on the pants with some formal suits. There are many examples of this archived in HBC. A good example is a first day school postcard which we believe dates to the 1920s. The postcard is interesting because the boy's trousers shows the ornamental buttons. These trousers are either very long short pants or the traditional knee pants (I'm not quite sure which).






HBC






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Created: 5:20 AM 9/16/2004
Last updated: 4:59 AM 3/22/2011