Figure 1.--These German children were proably photographed in the early 1870s, during or after the Franco-Prussian War. The boy wears a tunic suit, ruffled collar, and bloomer knickers. The portrait was taken at the studio of Th. Kliem, Langestrasse, Detmold. Image courtesy of the MD collection.

It is likely that the tunic style in Germany was comparable to other countries in Western Europe. We do have one image from the 1870s and the boys outfit looks comparable to similar outfits boys wore in America, England, and France. These were outfits for younger school age boys, but we are not sure about the age range. The one inage we have shows a boys wearing his tunic suit with a ruffled collar and bloomer knickers. We beleve that the bloomer knickers were common. We are less sure about the ruffled collars. Notice the boy's helment which hardly seems to go with his longish hair and ruffled collar. We thought it might be his father's helmet, perhaps returing from the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71). But the helment looks just the right aize to fit the boy. Perhaps child size helmets were available and of course many boys at the time would have wanted them.