Figure 1.--There were a variety of ways for younger German boys to hold up their trousers (suspebder pants, H-bar pants, and haltars). As boys got older they increasingly began using suspenders. What we rarely see until the 1930s were belts. Boys trouswers were not even made with belts as we can see in this snapshot taken about 1930. This changed dramarically beginning in the mid-1930s when belts suddently became popular.

Suspenders were the way older boys and adult men held up their trousers through most of the 19th as well as the early 20th century. We are not yet, however, sure about the chronology. Our information is especially limited for the 19th century. This is not only because our Germnan arechive is limited, but because boys very commonly wore suits with jackets when going to the phoyographic studio. And there were other ways to hold up boy's pants, especially button-on styles. We have much more information on the 20th century because of a more extensive archive. A reader who collects old photographs tells us that she does not note suspenders at the turn-of-the 20th century in her collection. We think this is a misnomer, in part because other methods were used for younger boys, such as button-on styling. We also notice suspender pants (with the straps made in the same material as the pantss), H-bar pants, and Lederhosen haltars (used fof both Lederhosen andc regular pants). And often the suspenders were covered up. What we do not see in the early 20th century is belts used for trouser suspension. We do not even notice belt loops on boys' pants at the turn of the century through the early 1930s. We believe that suspendrs were very widely used during this period, although they were often covered up. Suddenly this changed in the 1930s. We begin to see boys wearing belts and trousers had belt loops. And by the end of the decade, belts were more important than suspenders, although suspenders did not disappear. We are not sure why this changed occurred beginning in the mod-1930s. Nor or we sure why it tool place so rapidly. We believe the NAZIs and the Hitler Youth (HJ) were probably the reason. Hitler Youth uniforms included both short and long pnts made with beltloops. And the belt and belt buckle were an important part of the uniform. The NAZIs made particiption in the HJ compulsory at age 10 years. This meant that boys got used to wearing belts and most especually liked the belt buckle. Many boys wanted to wear the belt abd buckle even when not wearing the uniform. Apparently HJ boys wearing belts, also wanted them for their other pants. We are unsure how parents adapted to all of this, but given the rapid change, they seem to have followed what the boys wanted. We do not know if NAZI authoritie applied any pressure on clothing manufactutrers. We see suspenders after the War, but they were increasinly rare in the post-War era. The popularity of jeans beginning in the 1960s only increased the trend toward wearing belts.

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Created: 5:54 PM 11/11/2008
Last updated: 5:27 PM 8/26/2011