Figure 1.--Here we see a group of Austrian boys on some kind of group tour, perhaps a school group. Many of the boys wear Lederhosen, some with Alpine jackets. The photograph is undated, but was probanly taken in the late-1950s or early-60s.

The popularity and conventions concerning Lederhosen have varied greatly over time. And our archive of Austrian images is still quite limited. We do not yet have much information on the 19th century. We think that that at the time they were mostly worn in rural areas. Some wealthy families might have worn them as nostalgic folkwear. We note, for examole, Emperor Franz Josef and his son Rudolf wearing them for outings in the country. We gave more information on the 20th century. They seem to have still been ruralwear in the early 20th century. After World War I they seem to begin to become more popular in urban areas. Lederhosen in Austria seem particularly popular in the inter-War years. They continued to be widely worn in the 1940s and 50s. School photographs show many boys wearing lederhosen. They continued to be commonly worn through the 1950s. Lederhosen in Austria began declining in popularity in the 1960s as boys began wearing jeans. While we have quite a bit of information about German lederhosen, we have relatively information about lederhosen in Austria at this time. Clothing trends were similar in Germany and Austria. The difference concerning Lederhosen is that in Germn they were until after Wotld War II primarily a regional style, especially popular in Bavaria. In fact trends in Austria abd Bavaria were very similiar.

The 19th Century

The popularity and conventions concerning Lederhosen have varied greatly over time. And our archive of Austrian images is still quite limited, especially 19th century images. We do not yet have much information on the 19th century. We think that that at the time they were mostly worn in rural areas. Some wealthy families might have worn them as nostalgic folkwear. We note, for examole, Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Josef and his son Rudolf wearing Lederhosen for outings in the country. We are not sure if this was public relations are the two actually went on outings wearing Lederhosen.
The 20th Century

We gave more information on the 20th century. They seem to have still been ruralwear in the early 20th century. After World War I they seem to begin to become more popular in urban areas. Lederhosen in Austria seem particularly popular in the inter-War years. They continued to be widely worn in the 1940s and 50s. School photographs show many boys wearing lederhosen. They continued to be commonly worn through the 1950s. Lederhosen in Austria began declining in popularity in the 1960s as boys began wearing jeans. While we have quite a bit of information about German lederhosen, we have relatively information about lederhosen in Austria at this time. Clothing trends were similar in Germany and Austria. The difference concerning Lederhosen is that in Germn they were until after Wotld War II primarily a regional style, especially popular in Bavaria. In fact trends in Austria abd Bavaria were very similiar. We see boys commonly wearing Lederhosen into the 1960s. By that time, however, jeans were becoming popular and by the 70s Lederhosen were not as common as they once were in Austria.

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Created: 1:10 AM 9/30/2008
Last updated: 8:36 PM 6/3/2009