Figure 1.--"Vrouw en Huis" in 1952 offered this short pants suit with a bold pattern. Note the accentuated waist.
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Figure 1.--"Vrouw en Huis" in 1952 offered this short pants suit with a bold pattern. Note the accentuated waist. |
The Belgian magazine Vrouw en Huis ("Woman and Home"). We have some issues from the early 1950s. It was a weekly magazine and as it was in Dutch for Flemish readers, was also sold in the Netherlands. I'm not sure how popular it was among French readers. The magazine in the early 1950s showed paterns for short pants satin outfits for little boys' best outfits worn with short coats during the winter. Knitting patterns for sweaters were popular. Short pants outfits for boys were very common.
Fashions magazines still showed well-dressed younger boys wearing berets. This was less true in France. Boys also wore rather British looking peaked caps. These were worn by school boys in England. I'm not sure how popular these caps were in Belgium or if they were worn as part of school uniforms in Belgium.
Vrouw en Huis offered showed a boy wearing a British-looking peaked cap with what looks likes a school overcoat. If we did not know tht the image was from a Belgian publication, we would have assumed it was British. We don't have the text or the page, but the use of the peaked cap is interesting.
Younger boys might wear blouses with Peter Pan collars and smpcking.
Vrouw en Huis offered pattern 7306 for a satin blouse with a Peter Pan collar and partial smocking accross the front. It was worn with darker shorts also made out of satin for special occassions. The outfit was for a 4-5 year old boy.
A variety of outfits were made for younger boys.
Vrouw en Huis offered pattern 7369 for a younger boy's suit. It was made in fine wool with a destinctive pattern. There is satin colar, satin sash (belt) and sleeve cuff trim. While it looks like velvet trim, the pattern specifies satin. The outfit was made for 6-7 year old boy.
Boys in 1952 still wore short pants suits, commonly with kneesocks. One suit showed the influence of te Norfolk jacket.
Vrouw en Huis offered pattern 7368 for a wool suit to be worn by a 11-12 year old boy. The suit was show in a bold brown pattern. It had a belted jacket, suggesting Norfolk styling. The shorts were cut well above the knee. It was shown worn with light-colored patteerned kneesocks and loafers.
Classic coat styles were worn in 1952. One magazine showed very different styling for boys and girls.
Vrouw en Huis offered pattern 7376 for a boy's coat. It was for a 8-9 year old boy. The illustration shows both a boy's and girl's coat. The boy wears his coat with a beret and presumably a short pants suit as it is a dressy coat. Younger children might wear coats with more similar styling.
Vrouw en Huis offered pattern 7382 raglan coat for boys 7-8 years old. The boys is shown wearing a rather British-looking peaked cap. He wears some kind of short pants outfit with stripped ankle socks and lace-up shoes.
Vrouw en Huis offered patterns for both boys and girls school smocks. The styles are very similar to French styles of school smocks.
Vrouw en Huis offered several styles of pleated school smocks. They are very similar but appear to include some features commonly found on girl's dresses or smocks like puffed sleeves and some features more common on boys' smocks like a buttoning waistband.
Suits were illustrated as worn with kneesocks, both light and dark kneesocks.
Little children wore a variety of beachwear in the 1950s. Some of the outfits were more sunsuits, not desihned for swiming, but playing on the beach.
Vrouw en Huis offered romper style sunsuits for younger boys and sundresses for the younger girls. The two styles were very destinctive even for very young children.
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