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Many boys still wore long pants suits with highly varied desisns in the 1860s. This changed significantly in the 1870s when kneepants became the standad suit type for boys. The jackets also took on an increasingly modern design.in
The wide variety of suit styles prevalent in the 1860s became much more standardized in the 1870s. Many of the novelty styles for younger boys disappeared, although the sailor suit grew in popularity. The suit jackets took on an increasingly modern look. There were still some destinct differences with modern suits. Many boys' suit jackets had collars rather than lapels. Breast pocket arrangements were not yet standard as were the number of front buttons. Jackets with six buttons were not uncommon. Suit jackets were often made to be buttoned at the collar and worn unbuttoned at the bottom as was the case for many 1860s jackets. Suits were often were much better fitting suits than thise worn earlier in the decade.Knee pants increased in popularity throughout the decade, virtually repacing long pants for boys. Kneepants in the 1870s were generally worn long, often at mid-calf length. A good example is Minnie Tamn, a Minnesota boy we think in the 1870s. Some boys wore suits with out white collars and bows, but increasingly boys began wearing larger collars with their suits and often bows--although fairly modest sized bows until late in the decade. Boys wore their suits with long stocking, often stripped stockings. Kneepants in the 1870s could be quite long, well below the knees. Many boys wore them at calf level. One example is a Boston boy.
There are numerous examples of boys wearing knee pants in the 1880s archived on HBC. Knee pants could still be quite long in the 1880s. We see sone boys with shorter cut knee pants. A good example is Charley Rosewater in 1881. Many, however, are not dated. A good example is an American boy photographed probably in the late 1880s or perhaps the early 90s.
Some information about the garments associated with kneepants suits include:
The suit jackets worn with keepants varied. Styles include Norfolk, single breasted, double breasted, and others. Often a younger boy bought a suit jacket for the first time, might continue wearing a Fautleroy-style lace or ruffled collars with his new suit. This was generally for boys up to about 8 years of age, but boys of up to 10 or 11 years might continue to wear the fancy collars. Beginning at about 8 years a boy might begin to wear Eton collars. This was particularly common in England where boys often began preparatory boarding school at about age 8. Boys showing up at school with a frilly ruffled collar rather than an Etion collar would have been teased by the other boys. At the time it was the wealthy who set styles, thus this same pattern was soon picked up on by those of more modest income who could not afford expensive private schools. This sharp cut off at age 8 was not nearly as established in American and continental European countries.
No information available yet.
Toward the end of the 19th century, especially in the 1880s and 1890s, it
became increasingly common for quite old boys to wear kneepants. By the
turn of the century and the 1910s boys in their late teens wore knee pants
suits. The style during the 1910s turned toward knickers and knee pants were not commonly seen on older boys by the 1920s. Some formal styles for little
boys, however, continued to consist of knee pants in the 1920s--again with the ornamental three buttoms at the knee. Knee pants varied in a variety of ways. Some knee pants were at knee length. Others were cut well below the knee, looking some what like narrow-cut knickers. I'm not quite sure how the length of knee pants varied over time, but it is one of the factors that we will look into on this page.
