Figure 1.--This 1904 scene from a popular Vienna park shows two children wearing broad-brimmed sailor hats. Note the boys' red cape and elastic chin strap on his hat. The chin straps often do not show up in studio portraits, but we believe were worn more commonly than the studio photography suggests. Notice the ladies' headwear. Headwear was 'de rigor' in the 19th century through the turn-of-the-century.

Austrian boys headwear was in general very similar to German styles. The headwear most accociated with Austrian boys are sailor hats and caps. There does no appear to be any strong association such as the beret in France. The sailor suit was so popular in Austria over so long a period that various styles of sailor hats and caps were widely worn. The wide-brimmed sailor hat was not just worn with sailor suits, but was worn with Fauntleroy and other fancy suits. Broad brmimmed sailor hats were very popular from the late 19th to the early 20th century. Then sailor caps began to become more popular. Austrian folk dress includes a kind of Tyrolean hat, but HBC does not know how commonly it was actually worn. We do not some boys wearing them. The German military-styled peaked school cap was also common in the first half of the 20th century. We have also noted Austrian boys wearing a variety of other caps, including the German Schirmmütze.

German Headwear

Austrian boys headwear was in general very similar to German styles. The primary difference is that in Germany, Tyrolean hats were seen as a regional (Bavaraian) style and in Austria more of a national style. HBC has just begun to collect information on German boys' headwear. We note a variety of different headwear styles over time. Headwear was very common in the 19th and early 20th century, but since the mid-20th century has become less common. There are a range of factors besides fashion involved in the choice of heawear, including age, gender, and social-class. As with the French and English, there are a few headwear style especially associated with German boys. The most common is the Alpine style often worn with Bavarian folk costumes like lederhosen outfits. Some German readers have mentioned a "Schirmmütze". We do note that sailor hats and caps were especially popular in Germany, as were sailor suits. Many German boys began school wearing either sailor hats and caps or peaked army style caps. We have also noted rather English-looking boaters. Various styles of flat caps were also popular. During the NAZI era boys wore their Hitler Youth caps with their uniforms. We have very limited information on German headwear at this time. We also do not know the German names for all of the different caps and hats. We note that the German word for cap was "mütze" and the name for many caps was formed as in English my simply adding a noun to it like "schülermütze" for school cap.

Types

The headwear most accociated with Austrian boys are sailor hats and caps. There does no appear to be any strong association such as the beret in France. We note a fashionble straw hat in a Decker portait worn at the mid-19th century. The hat band matched the boy's tunic. The sailor suit was so popular in Austria over so long a period that various styles of sailor hats and caps were widely worn. The wide-brimmed sailor hat was not just worn with sailor suits, but was worn with Fauntleroy and other fancy suits. Broad brmimmed sailor hats were very popular from the late 19th to the early 20th century. Then sailor caps began to become more popular. Austrian folk dress includes a kind of Tyrolean hat, but HBC does not know how commonly it was actually worn. We do not some boys wearing them. The German military-styled peaked school cap was also common in the first half of the 20th century. We have also noted Austrian boys wearing a variety of other caps, including the German Schirmmütze.

Chronology

We have not yet been able to build a chronology of Austrian headwear styles becuse of our relatively small Austrian archive. Aystria is a small country and thus we have only been able to archive a relatively small number of images, especially dated images. We do have, however, a substantial German archive and we believe that fashions in Austria were very similar, not idential but similar. We note middle-class city boys wearing sailor headwear, both hats and caps. Sailor hats seem more popular in the 19th century and at the turn of the century. The boy here in 1904 wears a sailor hat with a medium brim. Othr boys had wide-brimmed sailor hats. Sailor caps seem more popular in the early-20th century, bu dissapear after World War II (1939-45). We note boys in rural areas wearing a kind of beanie-like Alpine caps. We also note Alpine hats, also cal Tyrolean hats, worn with Lederhoen and Tracht outfits. We notice these caps in the early-20th century, but believe thaey were also worn in the 19th century. We notice Schirmmütze during the mid-20th century, beginning in the late-1930s. This was also a populat style in Germany. we notice a range of other caps in the 20th century including peaked caps and flat caps. Europe in the second half of the 20th century began to move tosward pan-Eurooean styles. Before then there were destinctive styles throughout German speaking Europe (Germany, Austria, and much of Switzerland).

Gender

Age

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Created: September 13, 2001
Last updated: 3:27 PM 6/24/2014