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This is fairly simple:
Growing up in the US, the only white robes available for wearing during Rosh haShannah and Yom Kippur are standard kittels. I have heard that the kittel worn in Germany prior to the Shoah (called a sargenes in Western Yiddish) is quite different.
What are the differences between the Eastern Kittel and the Western Sargenes and what does the latter look like?
This question was asked at kayj.net. The answer was:
The original sargenes is similar to the tachrichim, closed from the front and from behind, and is put on over the head
I grew up in Alsace (France) which is geographically and culturally close to Germany. Definitely Yekke land. I only heard about Sargeness as a child.
For what I can remember it is mostly the same: a while long fabric robe with a belt and long sleeves which is a reminder or the burial shrouds (or maybe the actual burial shrouds that will be used after 120 years, to be checked). The sargeness I knew where made of a thicker material and with more lace than the kittel I know. But that might be because they were not made in China and sold for 20 shekel in Mea Shearim.
This http://catalogue.mahj.org/collec.php?q=1&o=16 photo is from the collections the Paris Jewish Museum. It does not quite look like what I remember but it might just mean my father was wearing a different type.
