Figure 1.--This boy, we think in New York City, wears above the knees knickers with knee socks in 1921. Most boys at the time wore long stockings. Notice the sporty beanny. It looks like he just got a new bicycle. |
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Knickers in America were initially made to be fastened above the knee. The material commonly fellover the knee nd the boys wore long tockings so the fact that they buckeled above the knee is not always simple to detect in available photographs. And this is how American boys mostly wore knickers, buckeled above the knee during the 1910s and 20s when they were most common. This is not entirely clear from the photographic record because the knickers material bloused at the knee and tended to cover the knee anyway. It was most obvious when boys wore knee socks. Most boys wore knickers with long stockings. A few boys wore then with knee socks and thus they look more like short pants as the knee shows. This was not very common, but we do see some examples in the photographic record, mostly during a short period from the late-1910s and very early-20s. A good example is two Texas boys in 1917. Anpther example os the boy here in 1921 (figure 1). Knee socks became standard in the 1930s, but the knickers worn then tended to be cut longer so the knee did not show.
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