German Fashion in Photos from the Collection of Randy Mckeithan

 

A round of applause to Randy Mckeithan for allowing me to share another beautiful photo, this time a charming family photo from the late 1930s or even early 1940s. Thank you, Randy!! When I first saw this photo, I was so excited because of the print of the mother's dress, a beautiful busy print. And at her neckline is a bunch of little flowers. So, should we just get into it? Oh yeah!

Starting with the mother, she is wearing a brightly patterned dress with short sleeves and a V neckline. Looking at her shoulder line, this could be a 1940s cut of a dress. The shoulder is not totally sloped like a1930s shoulder line would be. She may be wearing a shoulder pad there, it's hard to tell. It's not the big square shoulder of the mid 1940s but I think it's the slight shoulder of the early 1940s.  The neckline is trimmed with lace and at the very center is a punch of small flowers. On her legs she is wearing stockings, if you look closely her legs are slightly darker than the rest of her skin and there is a slight sheen. THOSE SHOES! She is wearing a dark heeled shoe with contrast piping and laces. Wowzers! Her hair has a side part and has these great waves. Her hair style is very indicative of the styles worn by women in the 1930s. 

This brings me to a side note about hair, clothes, and other bits about personal adornment, many women in the 1940s in many different countries held onto looks from the 1930s in the 1940s. Why? Many reasons: war created shortages, lack of resources to stay fashionable and personal preference as well. Some women chose to hold onto older styles out of a comfort for the familiar and no other reason. If you think about your own parents or grandparents, how many older looks do they hold on to out of comfort? If you think about it, you might be surprised. In the United States, where rationing and shortages were not too dire many women still held onto those older styles. It wasn't completely because of the war. This is what makes studying clothes so interesting and also so stinking hard. We are studying not only larger socioeconomic by products (clothes), larger cultural trends, but also the little intimate personal preferences of the wearer. Those little preferences that we will probably never know because they were only ever recorded in the hearts and minds of the wearer. Ok, enough of my ramblings. 

The young girls are wearing matching outfits, too cute. They are wearing dresses very indicative of the 1930s and 1940s. They are wearing white socks and little dark shoes. If you look close, they are wearing different styles. Those hair bows! I think they are adorable and that is a trend that needs to some back. Those giant bows were a common accessory for little girls as well as the short, bobbed haircuts. The dresses are short sleeved and have buttons down the body front. The girls are also wearing little necklaces. Fun fact, in the 19th century, young children wore coral necklaces meant to protect them from harm. Could these necklaces be that? I have no idea. It's interesting, go look it up. . . the coral necklaces. 

Moving on to the young boy in the front, he is wearing a two-piece outfit that buttons at the waist to make a one piece. These were actually quite common for very young boys. On his feet are white socks and little dark shoes that look like ankle high boots. 

Last is the older boy who appears to be in one of the youth groups that were common at this time. I do not know too much about the youth uniforms so I really cannot offer you any genuine analysis of what he is wearing.