English Boys' Hosiery Types: Knee Socks--Turn over Top Sock Cuffs


Figure 1.--Here we see a portrait of an brother and sister, Ronald and Jean. They look to be about 5-8 years old. The boy wears a sweater, tie, short pants, and knee socks with leather low-cut oxford shoes. Notice the patterned knee sock cuff top. His big sister wears a velvet dress with a small lace collar. She has dark long stockings and strap shoes. Long stockings by this time were only worn by girls and going out of style. The portrait is undated, but looks like the 1930s to us.

One aspect of English knee socks is probably beginning in the 1920s we begin to see the turn over tops done in destinctive styles. There were two different types. First was a pattern. The patterns were similar to the kinds of patterns we see on American knee socks, but confined to the turn over top cuff. We rarely see these American style knee socks in Britain, but we do occasionally see these patterned turn-over-top cuffs in America. They were very common in Britain. We see this quite commonly in the the 1930s and 40s. The boy here is a good example (figure 1). These knee socks were not a school style, but you might see them worn to school, on most cases a private school. Second was colored bands and more rarely a solid colored cuff. These were mostly school socks done as part of private school uniforms. This mjight include Anglican schools which operae as kind of low cost private schools. In Britain schools with a religious association were eligible for state funding. They tended tohave uniforms, but less elborate than the state schools. Children attending state schools were more lilely to wear plain grey knee socks, often without turn-over-tops. The colored bnds were done in the school colors. You might see the socks at the major chin stores and leasr in basic colors. But the more complicated patterns were only available in shops are the more up-market stores handling a schools uniform. These colors were also used for the caps, blazers, and ties. As thus there were a wide variety of colors used, but the socks themselves were almost always grey. We are not sure just when these school socks first appeared, but we begin to notice them in the 1920s. They became a popular part of school uniforms, especially schools that were serious about the uniform. We do not see these socks in America and other countries to any extent, primarily because there were so few schools with British-style uniforms, but there were a few. At times these colors bands alao appeared with English Scout and Boys Brigade knee socks. In this case we do see dark (we think navy blue) socks.

Patterned Tops

The first type of turn-over-top knee socks with destinvctive decorative cuffs were the ones with a coloful pattern design. As far as we can tell, they were only done with grey knee socks, at least all of the images we hab founf so far look to be grey. We begin to see these patterned cuff knee socks in the 1920s. Ther were many different patters. The patterns were similar to the kinds of patterns we see on American knee socks, but confined to the turn over top cuff. We rarely see these American style knee socks in Britain, but we do occasionally see these patterned turn-over-top cuffs in America. They were very common in Britain. We see this quite commonly in the the 1930s and 40s. There ere some in the 50s, but not narly as cimmonkly as the 40s. The boy here is a good example (figure 1). Notice how mother has matches the sweather and socks tops. These patterned cuff knee socks were not a school style, but you might see them worn to school, on most cases a private school. We think they were more popular for boys than girls.

Colored Trim Tops

The second type of turn-over-top socks was ones with colored bands and more rarely a solid colored cuff. These were mostly school socks done as part of school uniforms, primarily private school uniforms. This might include Anglican schools which operate as kind of low-cost private schools. In Britain schools with a religious association were eligible for state funding. They tended to have uniforms, but less elborate ones than the state schools. Children attending state schools might have uniforms as wel, mostly beginning with the 1960s. Boys at state schools were more lilely to wear plain grey knee socks, often without turn-over-tops let alone colored bands. The colored bands were done in the school colors. You might see the socks at the major chin stores and leasr in basic colors. But the more complicated patterns were only available in shops are the more up-market stores handling a schools uniform. These colors were also used for the caps, blazers, and ties. As thus there were a wide variety of colors used, but the socks themselves were almost always grey. We are not sure just when these school socks first appeared, but we begin to notice them in the 1920s. They became a popular part of school uniforms, especially schools that were serious about the uniform. We do not see these socks in America and other countries to any extent, primarily because there were so few schools with British-style uniforms, but there were a few privare schools. At times these colors bands alao appeared with English Scout and Boys Brigade knee socks. In this case we do see dark (we think navy blue) socks. We notice some Cub socks with a green babd.







HBC





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Created: 5:23 AM 7/2/2018
Last updated: 5:23 AM 7/2/2018