I'm more familiar with the latter half of the 18th century, but as far as I know, breeches were standard for all European men. The ones for a working man might be made of coarser stuff and not nearly as fitted, but they were breeches none the less. I'm sure you've already considered it, but the best source I know for dress specific to Pennsylvania is "Rural Pennsylvania Clothing" by Ellen Gehret. Karen Seamstrix
-- "Candace Perry" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Greetings: I'm new to the list and really seeking resources on quite specific time periods and people. I am hoping somewhere out there someone will have some answers, as I haven't stumbled across anything in my travels. What I am looking for today is information on what the average rural German (and to be more specific, we can say Saxon or Silesian) may have worn in the 17th through approximately mid 18th century in terms of pants/trousers/breeches/hosen. We've been having a discussion here at my place of employ, which interprets a specific Pennsylvania German group, about trousers during this period, as at least initially the trousers were most likely the same for the immigrants in PA as they were for their kinsman in the homeland. My colleague seems to think they could not have worn breeches, as their English counterparts might have here in the colonies. To him it seems far too formal for a farmer to be wearing breeches, but frankly I don't know otherwise. We have no artifact record to turn to, unfortunately, except for that of a more formal nature. It has been long accepted that the costume of the local rural German speaking man in the late 18th century would have included breeches, but my colleague questions this, and I can see his point. Was there some sort of loose fitting pants with pockets the average working German Joe would have worn? We're not talking "peasant" but more of a small landowning farmer or craftsman. Not an impoverished type by any means. (please forgive my use of terminology with trousers/pants etc.) Thanks so much for your time and thoughts, Candace Perry Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center Pennsburg, PA _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
