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We begin to see younger English boys wearing knee pants suits in the mid-19th century. We see knee pants before knickers, but both were commonly worn in the late-19th century. England was very important in setting male fashion. We are not sure to what extent England led the fashion changes that resulted in the development of shortened-length pants, but we believe that Englnd played a key role. American fashions in particular were very strongly influenced by English fashion. We know very little about English knee pants suits at this time, but we are gradually expanding our archive. We see them being worn with a variety of jackets. Boys wore both knee pants and knickers with suits. Knee pants were cut to various degrees of fullness. And we see a variety of trimming such as stripes and buttons. These suits were used both for regular suits and for school uniforms. We see them knee pants being worn with a variety of jackets. Boys wore both knee pants and knickers with suits. We do not yet know about age conventions or to what extent they differed between knee pants and knickers. We note boys up to 15 years of age wraring them and we suspect that some older boys sore them as well. Many of the images we have found show boys wearing knicker suits at school, but we see knee pants school uniforms as well. As our English archive is still limited, we can not yet draw any firm conclusions as to which were more common. Knee pants suits continued to be popular in the early-20th century, but not universal. We do not see them after World War I when boys primarily wore short pants suits in the 1920s. We have not yet archived enough 19th century images to know just how common knee pants suits were in England. They were primarily worn with long stockings in the 19th century. After the turn-of-the-20th century we increasingly see knee socks.
We begin to see younger English boys wearing knee pants suits in the mid-19th century. We think that knee pants first apeared in England, but are not yet sure. This is a little hard to tell from the photogrphic rcord, because early European portraits (Dags and Ambros) are not as common as American portraits. Nor do we know who first created knee pants. We first note them in the 1850s. We are not sure yet about the 40s. They were first worn by yonger boys just breched. We believe that they were first won by boys in affluent, well-to-do families. We see knee pants before knickers, but both were commonly worn in the late-19th century. From the beginning it became a popular style to add decorative buttons at the knee hem. This was to suggest 18th century knee breeches. We have no ide whose idea this was or why it becme so widely accepted. We have begun to collect images so we can build a decade by decade chronology. The style of knee pants, length, prevlence, and age cnventions changed over time. Here we see a boy in the 1870s, notice the stripes on the pants (figure 1). Some schools by the 1870s had begun making shortened-length pants part of the school uniform. These were mostly the public (private boarding schools which were very influential. We notice knickers more than knee pants as part of required uniforms. We see younger teenagers wearing them, by the 1880s, but this was by no means universal. We think that workig-class boys of the same age were more likely to wear long pants. There were also variation from family to family. Knee pants suits continued to be popular in the early-20th century, but not universal. We see boys in the 1880s wearing Little Lord Fauntleroy suits, but unlike American boys, mostly with knickers. We do not see them after World War I when boys primarily wore short pants suits in the 1920s. Knee pants essentially evolved into short pants. The first short pants were long like knee pants.
We have not yet archived enough 19th century images to know just how common knee pants suits were in England, but we think they were very common, especially with the younger boys still in school. We o not undertand the relative prevlence of knee pants nd knickers. This changed chronologically.
England was very important in setting male fashion. We are not sure to what extent England led the fashion changes that resulted in the development of shortened-length pants, but we believe that Englnd played a key role. American fashions in particular were very strongly influenced by English fashion.
We know very little about English knee pants suits at this time, but we are gradually expanding our archive we are learning more. We note a range od styling and decoraive details. . We notice various lengths over time. Early knee pants were cut rather long, commonly to calf length. Gradualy they got shorter, approaching knee length in the 1890s. Knee pants were also cut to various degrees of fullness. This ranged from very full cut cuts to very trim fitting knee
pants. Full cuts seem cimmon at mid-century, but we notice trim fitting knee pants by the 1890s. And we see a variety of trimming such as stripes and buttons. Stripes were popular in the 70s. We see them commoly on knee pants.Buttons at the knee hem to simulate 18th century knee breeches were very popular. Younger boys might have knee pants trimmed with lace at the knee hem. We think that this may have been done to look somewhat like pantlettes which were still worn by many younger boys. Perhaps readers will have some thoughts here.
These suits were used both for regular suits and for school uniforms. We see them knee pants being worn with a variety of jackets. These included cut-away, single- and double-breasted, and Norfolk jackets.
English boys wore both knee pants and knickers with suits. Many of the images we have found show boys wearing knicker suits at school, but we see knee pants school uniforms as well. As our English archive is still limited, we can not yet draw any firm conclusions as to which were more common or if there were any conventions associate with the choice of one or the other over time. Eglish suits are more diverse than Americam suits. American boys mostly wore knee pnts suits.
We do not yet know about age conventions or to what extent they differed between knee pants and knickers. Our 19th century English archive is still quite limited. We notice boys wearing knee pants suits by about age 5-6 years. The age conventions changed somewhat over time. Some boys wore them after breeching. Other boys wore a variety of juvenile outfits like sailor suits before getting a standard knee pants suit. They were very common with school-age children. This included both state and private schools. We believe they were very common in stste primaries, but this still needs to be confirmed. Many working-class boys after fininish school (at about age 13 years), probably began wrearing long pants. Boys continuing school, probably wore knee pants a bit longer. We note boys up to 15 years of age wraring them and we suspect that some older boys wore them as well. This may have been somewhat influenced by school uniform rules, but we are not yet sure. We see older boys at public (private boarding) schools wearing long pants, but this varied somewhat from school to school.
Knee pants were primarily worn with long stockings in the 19th century. Lon stockings we very common through the1870s (figure 1). Some youunger boys might wear them with socks, but most school age boys wore stockings to cover the leg. This is a little dufficult to assess because knee pants until the 1890s wee commonly worn at calf level. Thus over-the-knee stockings were not required to cover the leg. After the turn-of-the-20th century we increasingly see knee socks being worn, but at the same time knee pants were beginning to go out of style .
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