*** German mail order catalogs with boys clothes -- Kinder Korselett 1940








German Mail Order Catalogs: Kinder Korselett, 1940

stocking supporters
Figure 1.--This advertisement for a Kinder Korselett apparently appeared in a 1940 German catalog or periodical. We have very limited information on German catalogs, especially during the NAZI era. The War in 1940 had not yet begun to severely affect the civilian economy. So we suspect there still were advertisements for clothing in magazines and newspapers.

The 1940s were domianted by World War II. we have very little information on German catalogs or advertisements from the 1940s. We do note a Kinder Korselett in an unidentified 1940 catalog or periodical advertisement. It seems like more of a Leibchen.

Unidentified Catalog

This advertisement apparently appeared in a 1940 German catalog. We have very limited information on German catalogs, especially during the NAZI era. The War in 1940 had not yet begun to severely affect the civilian economy. So there were still advertisements for clothing in catalogs like this as well as magazines and newspapers. The add here was part of a larger page devoted to various items of children's clothing and underwear. The page is laid out in the same way that many Sears or Wards pages are laid out. While we know the date, what we don't know is the name of the store or manufacturer represented. It might have been Quelle, but that's just a guess.

Leibchen

HBC has no advertisements for German Leibchen. These were bodices for holding up long stockings, rather like garter waists in the United States. We do not know to what extent they were advertized.

Kinder Korselett

The garment here is a "Kinder Korselett" or child's corslet rather than a Leibchen, but it corresponds closely to one of Leibchens we have noted. Although Korselett is the diminuative of corset, this does not appear to be a corset. We see no stays to constrict the figure. The ad copy, however, does mention "reinforcement straps". I'm not sure what that meant. A reader tells us that reinforcement straps" are the strips built into the garment that run down the whole front (and also down the back) so that the four hose supporters or "strumpfhaltern" will have extra support. We see the same kind of reinforcement straps on American underwaists and waist union suits, used for the same purpose, namely providing additional support for the places where garters are attached.. See Fig 2 on the HBC Leibchen page, where we see the same kind of reinforcement straps built into the garment." This means that the reinforcement did not mean reinforcement in the sence of a corset, meaning constructing the torso.

Ad copy

The print is very hard to read but, as far as I can make out, the translation would be something like "Child's Corselet [or Leibchen], made of sturdily woven cotton knit material with shoulder straps and four hose supporters, quite long with reinforcement straps built in."

Gender

The advertisement says nothing about gender. Kinder of course means, "children", both boys and girls. A girl is obviously modelling the garment and the design is clearly for a girl. There could have been, however, similar garments for boys. We know from the German Hosiery Museum that boys wore similar garments for supporting long stockings. The chief difference between the boys' and girls' "corslets" would be color--i.e. pink or rose color for girls versus white or gray for boys.

Sizing

I don't understand the sizing information (in centimeters, I think, rather than inches) printed underneath the description.






HBC






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Created: 2:55 AM 5/25/2005
Last updated: 4:01 AM 5/27/2005