Figure 1.--Here we see unidebtified children lat look to be about 7-14 years old. We know the portarit was taken 1864-66 bcause tharte is a revenue stamp on the back. The girl wears a hoop skier dress. The older boy wears a standard lapel suit with long pants. The younger boy wears a cut-away jacket with knickers that do not match the jacket. Notice the length and full cut of the knickers. The studio was R.A. Lord in New York.

American boys began wearing short-cut pants in the 1850s, but as far as we can tell the number was very small and only the youngest boys wire them after breeching. We have not fiund images of biys wearing jnickers in the 1850s, although we suspect that there were probably some. It was not until the 1860s that shortened-length pants began to show up significantly in the phitograohic record, although long pants were still more common. HBC begins to notice knickers in America during the 1860s, thanks to the explosion of CDV portaits. Knickers were less common than knee pants, especially after the 1860s. Shortened-length pants at first were a style for affluent, fashion concious mothers, especially in the northeastern cities most infuenced by European fashion. While we see some knickers in the 1860s, we see many more boys wearing knee pants than knickers in the late-19th century. The cut of the knickers varied widely in the 1860s some were cut very full and long. This may have been the Civil War Zouave influence. We no longer see these full-cut knickers by the 1870s. It was knee pants that became standard boys' wear by the 1880s. Knickers at the time were widely worn by British and other European boys, but they were less common in America where the knee pants style predominated. We see that in both the photographic record and the mail order catalogs that became popular in the late-19th century. Knee pants had become standard boys wear by the 1880s, but they were less common in rural areas and to a lesser fegree anong older working-class boys. But this almost always meant knee pants and not knickers in America during the 19th century. Both knee pants and knickers were almost always worn with long stockings unless the boy was going barefoot.

Created: 2:42 PM 7/20/2020
Last updated: 2:42 PM 7/20/2020