Figure 1.--Here we see two pre-school French boys about 4 years old at a park play area in the 1950s. They are dressed for play. One boy wears suspender or bib-front rompers. The other boy wears a smock.

Boys' wardrobes were still limited in the early 20th cebtury. Many boys did not have play clothes. The general practice was to have a set of clothes for best and another vset of old vclothes for everyday waer. This wasnirmally knee oanrs or bloomer knickers. Short pants became common after World War I (1920s). We do not see many boys wearing rompers to any extennt until the 1930s. Short pants were common for school age boys through the 1960s. Younger boy also wore short pants, but also rompers and smocks as play garments. Rompers were a common play grments for pre-school boys. We do not see school age boys wearing rimpers for play to any extent. Smocks were more of a school garments, but we see some younger boys wearing smaocks as a play garment as well. Not as many as the boys wearing rompers for play, but we do see some. For school age noys, short pants ewere more common, but began to decline as long pants began to bdevome increasingly common in the 1960s.