German Schoolwear: Sailor Suit Chronology



Figure 1.--This German boy was probably in his first year of school. The image is undated, but we would guess that it was taken in the 1930s, I believe after the NAZIs seized power--primarily because of the cap style. Also notice the boys hanky anging from his book bag. Note the way the boy's scarfe was tied--this was common style in Germany.

We note large number of German boys wearing sailor suits to school. Most Germn schoold had no school uniform. Boys wore sailor suits to school because they were a popular boys' fashion. This was especially the case before World War I. We have only limited information on the late 19th century, but we have quite a bit of information on the early 20th century. German boys wore an amazingly varied diffent style of sailor suits. In any class portrait, there are at least a few boys wearing sailor suits and in some portraits quite a large number of boys are wearing them. Even after the War many boys wore sailor suits--at least in the 1920s. Styles became much more standardized. Almost all available images after the War show boys wearing very traditionally styled sailor suits. Almost all boys Sailor suits became much less common after the NAZIs seized power in 1933. The NAZIs looked on sailor suits as suitable only for the youngest boys.

The 1860s

The sailor suit as a boy's garment was intriduced to Germany by Princess Victoria who began dressing her son Primce Wilhelm, the future Kaiser Wilhelm II, in sailor suits as a young boy.

The 1890s

We have only limited information on the late 19th century, but it was in the 1890s that Germany began building a highseas fleet. This was a program strongly promoted by Kaiser Wilhelm. The sailor suit was a very popular style for boys wear, both to school and for play and dresswear.

The 1900s

We have only limited information on the late 19th century, but we have quite a bit of information on the early 20th century. We note large number of German boys wearing sailor suits to school. Most Germn schoold had no school uniform. Boys wore sailor suits to school because they were a popular boys' fashion. This was especially the case before World War I. German boys wore an amazingly varied diffent style of sailor suits. In any class portrait, there are at least a few boys wearing sailor suits and in some portraits quite a large number of boys are wearing them. Even after the War many boys wore sailor suits--at least in the 1920s. Styles became much more standardized. Almost all available images after the War show boys wearing very traditionally styled sailor suits.

The 1910s

Sailor suyits continued to bevery popular for schoolwear in the 1910s. We see some classess where more than hald the boys are wearing sailor suits. It was quite rare to see a class in which at least some of the boys are not wearing sailor caps. And we still see qite a rangeof styling. Traditional styling was becoming more common, bit we still see quite a range of stylistic vasriarion. Of course there were variations from school to school. The community affected dress. Boys in urban middle class areas were most likly to wear sailor suits. Boys in working-class and rural areas some wjhat less likly, nut even in these areas we see quite a few sailor suirs. Age was another factor. The younger boys were most likely to wear sailor suits, but they were still widely worn by boys 12-13 years of age. After this the prevaklence oif sailor suyits drops markedly. We do not yet have much information on the girls. Sailor suits continue to be popular throughout the decade. As far as we can tell, the war had nomimpact on the populrityof the sailor suit.

The 1920s

We notice many German boys wearing sailor suits to school in the 1920s, especially un the early 1920s. It was less common than before World War I, but still quite common. There were substantial variations. Some classess have only a few boys wearing sailor suits. It was rare that for a class not to have at least one or two boys dressed in sailor suits. Some classess might have nearly half the boys in sailor suits. The syles were more standardized than before the War. The age of the boys wearing sailor suyits also declined during the 1920s.

The 1930s

Almost all boys Sailor suits became much less common after the NAZIs seized power in 1933. The NAZIs looked on sailor suits as suitable only for the youngest boys. Here a German boy, probanly in his first year of school, wears a sailorvsuit to school, probably about 1935 (figure 1). The sailor suits that were worn were a very stadardized style based on German naval uniforms.

The 1940s

We do not notice Geman boys wearing sailor suits to school in the 1940s.






HBC





Related Chronolgy Pages in the Boys' Historical Web Site
[The 1880s] [The 1930s] [The 1940s] [The 1930s] [The 1940s] [The 1950s] [The 1960s] [The 1970s] [The 1980s]



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[Long pants suits] [Short pants suits] [Socks] [Eton suits] [Jacket and trousers] [Blazer] [School sandals]


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Created: February 10, 2001
Last updated: 5:07 AM 5/26/2010