Figure 1.--This unidentified American boy is pictured with his little sister in 1924. They may be wearing new Easter outfits. He wears a large flat cap with a Nirfolk \knickers suit. He wears dark long stockings which msy be brown rather than black. Note the low-cut oxfords which were replacing high-top shoes in the 1920ss. His sister wears a light-colored dress with knee socks and "T"-strap shoes. The children look to be about 7-11 years old.

Knickers continued to be the most common type of suit trousers in the 1920s, but we see fewer older boys wearing them. While knicker suits continued to be standard in the 1920s, although we see fewer boys wearing suits to school. We still see many noys wearing Norfolk knicker suits in the 1920s, although Norfolk styling was not as common in the 1920s. Knicker suits were very common in the 1920s, almost universal for younger boys and even younger teens. We see a few younger boys wearing short pants and long pants suits. Short pants suits appeared after the War, but were not as common as in Europe. Social class seems to have been a factor here. Rather it was knicker suits that were the standard in America. Some suits came with two pairs of pants, usually knickers and long pants. In some cases parents could choes the tyoe of extra pants. We are not sure why a suit woukd be purchased with both knicker s and long pznts. Presumably the boy would usually want to wear the long pants. This varied by age and from family to family. Knicker suits grdually it became less common for olders boys to wear, especially by the end of the decade. We continue to see boys wearing knicker suits with flat caps, rarely any other type of headwear. But headwear in general seems somewhat less common. Black long stockings continued to be standard, although we begin to see loudly ptterened knee socks at the end of the decade. Low cut oxfords began to replace high-top shoes.

Created: 8:46 AM 3/20/2011
Last updated: 8:46 AM 3/20/2011