United States Knee Pants: Definition

American boy knee pants
Figure 1.--It is a little hard to identify what type of pants the unidentified American boy here is wearing. There are no decorative henm buttons, but the length is below the knees. The portrait is undated, but the three AZO stamp box triangles suggest 1904-18. The clothes luje the open collar look more like the 1910s. The studio was N.A. Berthol, 1711 Minion Ave, Cincinnati, Ohio. Click on the image for a fuller discussion.

Defining knee pants is somewhat complicated. This is because they are essentially short pants. The two are divided chronologally. You see knee pants mostly in the 19th century and short pants in the 20th century, especilly after World War I. The time-line differs somewhat from country to country. You do not see the term short pants used much in the 19th and you do not see the term knee pants used much acter World war I. In between from the turn-of-th 20th century to World War I, we se terms like knee pants, short pants, and knickrs being used interchangeably. I supose that knee pants and short pants could be used interchangeably, but there were some difference. Knee pants were worn at lengths from the knee down to about the calf. By the 1890s, actual knee-length hd become standard. They also common had decorative buttons, usually three at the knee hem. They were used presumably to represent the buttons on 18th century breeches, but I have no idea why. This convention was common in both Europe and America. Short pants on the other hand varied in length from the knee up. Early short pants were the same length as knee pants, but gradually got shorter. Short pants were quite short in the 1970s and 80s. Modern short pants, however, have gotten much longer. They are always called shorts rather than short pants. Most pants cn clerly be identified as knee [ants or short pants, but during the transition from knee pants to short pants during the 1910s this is sometimes difficult.









HBC





Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Return to the Main U.S. knee pants page]
[Return to the Main U.S. pants type page]
[Return to the Main knee pants country pants page]
[Introduction] [Activities] [Biographies] [Chronology] [Clothing styles] [Countries] [Essays] [Theatricals]
[Bibliographies] [Contributions] [FAQs] [Glossaries] [Images] [Links] [Registration] [Tools]
[ Boys' Clothing Home]



Created: 3:23 AM 2/1/2009
Last updated: 3:24 AM 2/1/2009