Your work on HBC is certainly extensive. I'd never
before considered how so many influences affect
clothing choices. As an instructor in social sciences, I
think you have a book waiting to be written. Some of
your ideas found in HBC I've applied in my classes.
The time span I suggested in this discussion (late
1950's to early 1960's) is most familiar to me. It's a
matter of opinion, of course, but this era was also
something of a last gasp for traditional styles for the young and the not so young.
Many contributors share my wish that classic styles
for our young would make a return. Generally, styles
never quite return exactly to those of a by-gone era,
but instead resemble them with a modern version -
fabrics, cut, innovations.
We American contributors recall that the dressier
styles for boys - Eton suits, short pants suits - were
never so common here as in the U.K. and in
continental Europe. Our more casual culture and life
style, as you note, explains in part why these styles,
and since the 1930's approximately, shorts for boys,
were not well received. One book I have about the
Boy Scouts of America states that beginning about
1920 its National Organization encouraged the trops
to select shorts, rather than knickers, but its
suggestion was "met with great merriment",
according to records. The book goes on to say that
boys scouts once "risked mocking whistles" and had
to defend themselves against young toughs by
travelling in groups and settling matters with their
fists.
Fortunately, the dark ages are over. As you write,
shorts shorts ceased to be thought of as the dressed
up look and became the casual look. As i put it, shorts
once may have meant "sissy", now it means "cool", in
more ways than one, guess. Ironically, longs seem to
be "nerdy" for our young today.
Those of us who'd like for the cool styles to become
more traditional might take heart. More and more
public schools are opting for a rather classical school uniform (I can't help wondering if dissensters are parents, or students (most of whom seem to like the
new look); surprisingly, the increasing popularity of
soccer, with uniforms that at least are more
coordinated and neater than today's casual fashions;
and the norm that each generation tends to rebel
against the styles and standards of the previous
generation may make the generation following GEN X
and its slackers the most neatly dressed generation
within memory.
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