Figure 1.-- We note a garment that seems to have been worn rather like a dickey with various suits. We notice examples from the A. Wertheim 1903-04 catalog. They were called Vorhemden. I think that meant sonething like for shirt or shirt front. .
|
Figure 1.-- We note a garment that seems to have been worn rather like a dickey with various suits. We notice examples from the A. Wertheim 1903-04 catalog. They were called Vorhemden. I think that meant sonething like for shirt or shirt front. . |
We note a garment that seems to have been worn rather like a dickey with various suits. We notice examples from the A. Wertheim 1903-04 catalog. They were called Vorhemden. I think that meant sonething like for shirt or shirt front. I am not entirely sure why a shirt front was needed. Hopefully a HBC reader with a better understanding of turn-of the-century shirts will help us here. Some also had collars attached. We have not notice these in American catalogs at the time, but perhaps we have not adequately investigated the topic yet.
A Wertheim was located in Berlin. Wertheim was untill the 1930s one of the big department stores (Warenhaus). The most famous was the "Kaufhaus des Westens" (KadeWe) in
Berlin (now owned by Karstadt). Like many of the important department stores they also had a catalog so customers outside Berlin could order their merchandice. The Wertheim wwere a Jewish family. Their store was Aryanized by the NAZIs during the Third Reich. There are still law suits in process to reimburse them.
Vorhemden meant sonething like for-shirt or shirt front. I am not entirely sure why a shirt front was needed. We have noted them being worn with formal dress, but the styles shown here do not seem to be meant for formal wear. Hopefully a HBC reader with a better understanding of turn-of the-century shirts will help us here. Some also had collars attached. We have not notice these in American catalogs at the time, at least for boys. Here the catalog indicates that these were for men and boys. Perhaps we have not adequately investigated the topic yet. A German reader tells us, "Vorhemden, I suppose that they were used for formal wear with tail-coats. Underneath was worn only a simple shirt without a collar and that was not irones. The Vorhemden were ironed and starched."
There are quite a few different styles offered. We note two are labeled "Knaben Serviteur". That means boys ????. Notice the button hole at the bottom, presumably these button on to the inside of the trouser waistband or underwear.
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing catalog/magazine pages:
[Return to the Main German 1903 catalog page]
[Main photo/publishing page]
[Store catalogs]
[Fashion magazines]
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Introduction]
[Activities]
[Biographies]
[Chronology]
[Clothing styles]
[Countries]
[Topics]
[Bibliographies]
[Contributions]
[FAQs]
[Glossaries]
[Satellite sites]
[Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Sailor suits]
[Sailor hats]
[Buster Brown suits]
[Eton suits]
[Rompers]
[Tunics]
[Smocks]
[Pinafores]