|
American mail order catalogs offer a very useful time line on changing fashion trends. We see some important changes, and he increasing trendtoward casual clohing following World War I. Altman's provide a great review of popular fashions in their catalog, although in some case a high-end view. Knee pants had largely disppeared. Knickers still dominated boys's fashions. So did lomg stockings. Younger boys had begun to wear short pants. A 1923 Wards mail order catalog shows the varied styles of underwear available for boys and girls in 1923. The underwear came equipped with numerous buttons for button-on styled clothing and for holding up the long stockings. Girls had bloomer or romper styled underwear while boys, excet for the youngest, wore stright legged underwear. Many styles for boys and girls were checked.
Headwear was still commonly worn in the 1920s. Younger boys still wore sailor caps. After the decade thisbec,emuxhless common. Standard headwear for boys during the decad was the iconic flast cap, often called a golf or newsy cap. Some were made to match suits. We see some of these with Altman's suits in 1923. Most were sold seprately. We also nsee the peaked rounded crown caps which tended to be worn by younger boys and also could match suits. We also notice a variety of B. Altman and Company winter caps and rainwear.
Dress-like sleepers were made for small infants. Older infants might wear shorter skirt-like garments, perhaps only for the girls.
One of the most popular styles for todlers and pre-school children, both boys and girls, were rompers. The rompers were a sharp departure from earlier styles for young children which were often very elaborate an constrictive. Loose-fitting rompers were a much more casual approch to children's clothes. They were mostly made for pre-school children, but as they were made through age 6, some children may have worn rompers after they came home from school.
One of the major development after World War I was a marked increase in the popularity of casual clothes. This was especially true for children's clothes. An interesting example here is what Sears called a Khaki Jean Summer Suit. It was a play suit made in sizes from 5 to 14 years (Sears, Spring-Summer, 1923). This is notable because in the 1920s most boys older than 12 wore knickers, not shorts. Here a exception was commonly made for camp. We see for example, Boy Scouts wearing shorts at camp, even though the standard uniform was knickers. The other unusual feature is that even though this is a hot-weather suit (recommended for vacations, summer camps, and general relaxed wear), it is shown with black long stockings--not very cool. Here we see the implied conflict between clothes designed to be informal and comfortable and yet that seem to require traditional black long stockings.
We do not have a lot of information on blouses and shirts yet. It was in the 1920s that our modern styles of collared shirts began to become widely worn. The Eton collar that was so imprtant inboys' dresswear since the 1890s beagan disappearing. The soft collar became basically universal by thens of the decade. The burron-down collar appeare, although not yet very imprtant. The 1920s was the decade in whiuch boys made the transition from blouses to shirts. And we begin to see 'T-shirts. Until the 1920s we do not see that much of the tops boys were wearing because suits were so commn, so we often do not see much of the top. White blouses and shrts were farly standrd, in part because of laundry technolgy. After the 20s we see more and more colored shirts and fewer boys wering suits covering up the tops. And as the tops were less commonly covered up, we see more detils about the tops. The Altman suit page shows most of the boys wearing what looks like white shrts with their suits. They were not being offered for sale so we do not see deails. We still see detachable Eton collars, although emember that Altman's was a high end store. After the 1910s andespecially the 20s Eton collrs declned in popularity, but did not entirely disappear. They were probably worn with shirt waists. We see one shirt being offered it was not pictured being worn with suits. It was a tan shirt. The Brtish wore gray shrts as an every day school shirt. This was less common in America. The shirt here was tan, it would have been used a casual shirt, here shown being worn with riding breeches--a high end fashion.
Coats and other cold weather clothing was more imprtant in the 20th century than is he case today. here were several reasons for that. First, the weather was colder. Second, homes and many chools were not as well heated. THird much more of the populatin lived in the northrn tates with severe wintter wether. Coats were an imprtant prt of children's wardrobes. Boys wore a variety of coats. We see a good selection of heavy winter coats in the B. Altman fall and winter 1923-24 catalog. The double breasted coats appear to have been very popular, including one that looks likea reefer jacket with sailor styling, but called a Mackensaw. We also notice noitice a rubbr rain coat.
Sailor suits were still worn by American boys in the 1920s. They were most popular with younger boys, but HBC has noted them in sizes up to 19 years.
It was still very common for boys to wear suits in the 1920s. B. Altman and Company was a high-end department store founded in New York City by Benjamin Altman (1865). The flagship store was the B. Altman and Company Building at Fifth Avenue and 34th Street in Midtown Manhattan, opened (1906). The 1923 fall mnd winter catalog featured a range of suits for school age boys, both knicker and long pants suits in size 8-18 years. There were knicker suits for older boys and long pants options for younger boys. Many of the knicker suits were done with Norfolk jackets. Here we also have Altman single-breasted jackets. While the styling was similar, they were available many different colors and fabrics. The long pants suits were done with single-breasted jackets. We still see some boy wearing Eton collars with suits. Herethe fact hat ltman was a high end etailer was a factor.
We see catalogs offeing a range of pants, inddering short pans, knickers, and lomg
American boys still commonly wore long stockings in 1923, espsecially during the fall and winter. Kneesocks had begun to appear more commonly in catalogs, but long stockings were still the most common for winter wear. Three-quarter socks for youngrvchildren were more common during the summer--unless a boy went barefoot, still common in small towns and rural areas. While we do not yet have hosierry catalog pahes, we mostly see long stockings in pages for other grmenyts like suits and pants.
A 1923 Wards mail order catalog shows the varied styles of hosiery available for boys and girls in 1923. The page from the summer catalog was entiled, "Well wearing hose for roming children". The illustrations show boys wearing both kneesocks and long stockings with anove the knee knickers. Wearing kneesocks with above the knee knickers was only in fashion for a few years. Much but not all of the hosiery offered for sale was the same for both boys and girls.
The 1920s clothing catalogs included a variety of garments and accessories besides the major categories. Many are important to note as in some cases as fashions changed or developed, they would disappear or become important styles in future generations. This is one of the valuable elements of these catalogs, allowing us to track changing fashions with sources of known dates.
Underwear was still rather complicated in the 1920s, primarily because of the popularity of button-on-styling and because long stockings were still being worn. We have a good bit of informatin because underwear was both advertised in catalogs as well as in many magazines.
A 1923 Wards mail order catalog shows the varied styles of underwear available for boys and girls in 1923. The underwear came equipped with numerous buttons for button-on styled clothing and for holding up the long stockings that were still commonly worn. Girls had bloomer or romper styled underwear while boys, excet for the youngest, wore stright legged underwear. Many styles for boys and girls were checked. There were several styles of combination suits. They were called combination sits because they combined both underm shirts and under pants. Wards also calls them "waist suits" and "romper togs".
Here we see an ad for Forest Mills Underwear. The ad emphasizes the company's product line for the entire family. I'm not sure what magazine carried the advertisement. We do know that it appeared in 1923. Forest Mills was a brand name for the Brown Durrel Company. This is not a company which we know anything about at this time.
We note popular boys' footwear styles rapidly changing from high-top to low-cut shoes, but both were still available in 1923. We note styles like saddle shoes and closed-toe sandals.
Here is the children's shoe page from the 1923 Montgomery Ward catalog, page 213.
This is an interesting page because it offers a wide range of styles. We note both high-top and low-cut shoes. Some ofthe styles will look old fashioned to the modern reader, such as ankle trap shoes and high-top Butcher shoes. while others such as the low-cut shoes and sandals wlll look suprisingly modern. Several of the low-cut shoes were for girls. We note both high-top and low-cut shoes. Thwere are also several styles of closed-toe sandals, suggesting that they were very popular. There were also a range of shoes for toddlers.
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing catalog/magazine pages:
[Return to the Main American mail order 1920s page]
[Main photo/publishing page]
[Store catalogs]
[Fashion magazines]
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[About Us]
[Introduction]
[Activities]
[Biographies]
[Chronology]
[Cloth and textiles]
[Countries]
[Garments]
[Girls]
[Photography]
[Topics]
[Bibliographies]
[Contributions]
[FAQs]
[Glossaries]
[Images]
[Links]
[Registration]
[Search]
[Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Sailor suits]
[Sailor hats]
[Buster Brown suits]
[Eton suits]
[Rompers]
[Tunics]
[Smocks]
[Pinafores]
[Long stockings]
[Underwear]
