Figure 1.--Unfortunately we know nothing about this photograph. We would guess that it is German, probably taken in the early 1930s. The pose here of the children lined up by height (more or less) is often a family pose, but there are way to many children of the same age for this to be a family. The reader who forwarded the image to us thought it might be a birthday party. Note that all of boys but one wear their sailor suits with long pants. Clock on the image to see the rest of the line.

The first sailor suits were worn with long pants because they were copies of naval uniforms. Often the early suits were made with bell-bottom pants, the style of pants worn with naval uniforms at the time. These were the style of pants of course worn in the Royal Navy which set the standard for naval uniforms. They were also worn by U.S. Navy sailors, but we are less sure about other countries. Regular cut pants became more common in Germany. We see bell bottms being worn by boys in other countries, but we see them more rarely in Germany, especially after World War II. Gradually sailor suits began to be made with other types of pants. This depended primarily on the popular pants styles at the time. While other types of pants appeared and became popular, throughout the late 19th and 20th century, sailor suits continued to be worn with long pants as well. Actually shortened-length pants became so common for boys in Germany that sailor suits were one of the few outdits that boys wore with long pants. Here long pants were most commonly worn by the older boys with sailor suits, but we see younger boys as well. It is difficult at this time to assess the relative importance of long trouser and other sailor suits. We do know that by the early 20th century, the first long pants a boy might wear were probably part of a sailor suit. In some cases age was a factor here, but long and short pants sailor suits were often made in the same sizes. Seasonality may also have been a factor, but we believe that parental preferences were the primary reason that either long or shortened-length pants were chosen.

A reader writes, "I agree it seems to be a birthday party. All the children are of a similar age except the boy at the front, which is what you would expect at a birthday party. He is he there because he is the tallest or is he at the front because its his birthday? The line could have gone upwards to the biggest and the one of the silimilar size kids would have been at the front. He would have been our birthday boy. The line is not like that it goes from the biggest downwards. My guess is the big chap is the birthday boy and might be the reason he is wearing the sailor suit because of the special importance he had that day and would be dressed in his very best clothes. It looks a happy event all the same and everyone looks to be having a fun and a good time. In another way its a sad picture because these kids would be in World War II."

Another reader writes, "This picture seems to be of a birthday party, everyone agrees with that assessment. The question that can't really be answered is whose birthday it is. However likely guess work can be considered. The line of children suggests between 8 or 9 families and close examination would suggest who is brother and sister to whom. With the exception of the tall boy in the sailor suit all the children appear to be of a similar age and height. The tall boy at the front has been thought of as the person whose birthday it is. If this boy is having a birthday then several thoughts have to be considered. First he looks a couple of years older than all the children. If this is a reasonable assessment then the children at his party would be similar in age to him as well as the presence of younger children. No other child seems to be his age. He has a pleasing smile so he is happy to be at the party. This facial expression might be another clue that he is the person having the birthday. Yet if he is older than the other children there seems to be a two year peer gap because only younger children are at his party. That no other children appear to be present to match his age and height is puzzling. It might be worth considering that he is a tall boy for his age and though he looks older he is in fact as young as the other children. This does not seem a reasonable assessment. The conclusion can only be that the tall boy is not the birthday person so who is? The photograph has the tall boy at the front thus making him the focal point of attention in the photograph. You immediate look to the front of the line and see the tallest boy and the girl with her hands on his shoulders. The boy and girl are quite likely to be brother and sister. The second person in the line is the person having the birthday. She is similar in age to all the other children. These could be her school and neighborhood friends. Cousins are unlikely as there would be some much younger and some older than the girl. I feel much happier with this assessment. Another puzzling aspect in the photograph is that if this is indeed a birthday there does not seem to be birthday cards, a birthday cake and presents shown in the photograph. Other family events would have had a much wider spread of ages so all in all the likely event at which this photograph was taken was indeed a birthday party. There seems to be a lot of happiness in the photograph. Some children look bored but this could be because the photograph took a fair amount of time to set up. It does evoke a happy event from so long ago and is a valuable social document of those times and shows an age when dressing-up for a special event was the normal behaviour."

Other Related Pages:
[Sailor suits] [Kilts] [Smocks] [Pinafores] [Sailor Hats] [Blouses]
[Ring Bearers] [Long hair] [Ringlet curls] [Hair bows] [Bangs] [Collars] [Bows]

Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Return to clothing styles]
[Introduction] [Activities] [Biographies] [Chronology] [Cloth and textiles] [Clothing styles] [Countries] [Topics]
[Bibliographies] [Contributions] [FAQs] [Glossaries] [Images] [Registration] [Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]

Navigate the Historic Boys' Clothing Web German pages:
[Main German country page]
[German art] [German catalogs] [German choirs] [German lederhosen]
[German movies] [German royal family] [German schoolwear] [German youth groups]

Created: 9:42 PM 6/13/2006
Last updated: 5:30 AM 3/26/2007