Figure 1.--This Austrian cabinet card is undated. We would guess that it was taken about 1900, but our ability to date old Austria photographs is not as refined as the dating of american photographs. This is an example of the long hair some Autrian boys sported. Such examples are only a fraction of the much more prevalent short or cropped styles. The boy looks to be about 6 years old, a time that mnby boys had their first school day portraits taken. This is unusual, however, not only because of the long hair, but because he had ariding crop rather than a book satchel. We think tht the boy camne from a well-to-do family and was being tutored at home, but the parents wanted a portrait like those being taken of boys being sent to school. This of course is only a guess, perhaps reader have some insights to offer. To add to the problems ssessing this portrait, some one has written 'Schüler u. Vater' meaning Pupil and Father. We can onlu gues hat this was witten years later after the boy had grown up. The studio was Atelier Brigitta in Vienna.

We see a few boys with long hair, but not the Fauntleroy ringlets that were popular in America. The only boys' hair style tht we do not notice to any extent is the long Fauntleroy ringlet curls. This seems especially common with boys from aflluent or upper-class families. We think these may have been boys educated at home, but we do see a few boys with longish hair in school portraits, both family studio portits abd school class portraits. Many Austrian and Germany partents took first day portraits of their children. There are literally millions of these portraits in the photographic record. Any boys with long hair are only a tiny fraction of these portraits. We think the portraoit here is of a boy is at the age that first day portraits wre commonly taken, but the boy was probably being tutored at homw (figure 1). This seems to have been more common in Austria than in Germany. It may have been in part a French influence. Here it should be noted that Austria and Germany had an excellent, highly respected state school system. Even well to-do-Germany sent their children to state schools. The private sector was much smaller than in Britain. These same trends seem similar to those in Germany. Actually even President Roosevelt attended a German state school while his brother was studing in Germany.

Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Return to the Country hair page]
[Introduction] [Activities] [Biographies] [Chronology] [Clothing styles] [Countries]
[Bibliographies] [Contributions] [Essays] [FAQs] [German glossaries] [Images] [Links] [Registration] [Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]

Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing national pages:
[Return to the Main Austrian boys clothes page]
[Return to the Main countries page]
[Australia] [Belgium] [England] [France] [Germany] [Ireland] [Italy] [Japan] [Korea] [Mexico] [New Zealand] [Scotland] [United States]

Created: 6:46 PM 6/15/2014
Last updated: 6:47 PM 6/15/2014