United States Childrens Fashion Conventions (The 1930s)


Figure 1.--The American children here may not be from the same family, but the snapshot illustrates some of the fashion age and gender conventions prevalent during the 1930s. Notice the sleeveless sailor outfit for the younger boy.

There were pronounced many fashion conventions concerning childrens clothes in the 1930s. These conventions were associated with both age and gender. There was some variation such as region and social class which affected these conventions. We note changes here so we substantial differences from both the 1920s and 40s. Boys in the 1930s commonly wore knickers, often with brightly patterned knee socks. Younger boys might wear short pants. Here social class was a factor and not just age. Boys from well to do families were more likely to wear short pants than boys from working-class families. Older boys might wear long pants and were becoming increasingly popular. Long stockings were still worn, especially by younger boys. Most boys wore shoes. We begin to see quite a few boys wearing tennis shoes, but generally not to school. A few boys wore sandals, but mostly younger boys during the summer. Girls still mostly wore dresses, but we see some some girls wear rompers for school gym classes and summer camps. We also see some girls wearing short pants, but it was not yet particularly common and we don't see it at school. Girls wore both knee socks and ankle socks. The bright patterned knee socks he boys wore were not as popular as they were for boys. Sandals and strap shoes were much more common with girls. Girls also wore standard oxfords similar to boys' shoe styles.







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Created: 11:35 PM 6/18/2006
Last update: 1:49 AM 9/17/2017