Figure 1.--This German boy got a goodie cone for his first day at school. Most younger German boys like this wore long stockings to school, especially in old weather. Most images we have seen show the boys wearing flat-weave stockings. Click on the image for a discussion of the boy's outfit.

Most of the school images we have found show boys weaing flat-weave long stockings. We believe this is primrily a function of the flat weave stockings being the most common. We have the 1927 photograph of a Canadian boy from Montreal named Fowler, obviously dressed in his best school wear. He wears a sweater with a necktie, long knee-pants-style short trousers, and the traditional plain black long stockings familiar to schoolboys for decades past. Many Canadian boys wore long stockings during the 1920s and 1930s, partly because of the chilly weather and partly because Canada (especially Quebec) tended to be conservative about children’s dress. A German boy on his first day of school is seen with a short pants sailor suit and black long stockings sitting rather self-satisfiedly with his goodie cone. The photo dates from the mid-1920s apparently. Note the smooth weave of the black stockings. German boys ny thelate 1920s were wearing the fashionable lighter-colored long stockings, as this first-day schoolboy. These stockings are notable for their elegant close fit and for their light beige, almost white, shade. Note the short pants which imitate the older-style knee pants in having prominent ornamental buttons. These stockings are very finely textured. At about the sanme time we observe a German schoolboy (possibly named Meerkoff) wearing a traditional short pants sailor suit and what appear to be woolen beige long stockings. The stockings seem to be non- ribbed or at least of a very fine-rib gauge. Another image shows a German schoolboy of about 8-9 years old, apparently from a somewhat wealthy family, wearing fashionable schoolboy dress—a striped middy blouse, dark knee pants, and plainly knit black stockings. A German gymnasium class, photographed in 1927, shows all the boys wearing short trousers. The class seems to be about equally divided between long stockings (black or dark brown) and knee socks. Note that the boys wear open collars or sailor suits rather than formal jackets and ties. The stockings worn seem to be of plain or narrow-gauge texture.