Figure 1.--This unidentified German boy wears Argyle knee socks with a haltar and Lederhosen. They are the classical Argyle pattern. Note thatthey are not turn-over-top stockings. The dealer estimated the date at about 1965.

Argyles were the first patterned knee socks we notice. It is a pattern of two or more colored diamonds. We first see Scottish boys and mens wearing them with kilts (19th century). It was apattern introduced bythe Campbell clan. They were from Argyll, Scotland, thus the name Argles. The clan and pattern became popular when they were mentioned by the Scottish author and poet Sir Walter Scott. The original Campbell clan pattern was the traditional green and white colors. Gradually other colors, often bright colors appeared. This was especially the case when the pattern became popular in other countries. We notice American boys wearing them, mostly with knickers (1920s-30s). For some reason, British boys did not wear them with short pants, only with kilts. We mostly see Argyle knee socks being wirn with short pants in Germany. Argyles were first a boys' style of knee socks, but girls also began wearing them as knee socks declined in popularity with boys. We do not notice German boysearing them to any extent until after World War II in the late-1940s. They seem most common in the 50s , but we see some German boys still wearing them in the 60s. Boys mostly wore them with short pants, but some teenagers wiore them with knickers. After the 60s they were mostly worn by girls as it became kess common for German boys to wear knee socks. We are not sure about the colors as boys stopped commonly wearing knee socks before colored film became prevalent.