American Advertisements and Catalogs with Boys Clothings: 1952


Figure 1.--Here we see a sports jacket outfit and a suit offered by Walter Field in 1952. These two-fabric sports jackets were popular in the late 1940s and early 50s. The pricing is rather curious. Why was the sports jacket outfir $0.03 cebts more.

American advertisements and mail order and other catalogs offer a very useful time line on changing fashion trends. American mail order catalogs in 1952 featured jeans and other long pants for boys of various ages. Khaki slacks were a staple. Stores offered shirts in a variety of bold prints as well as standard white and blue colors. World War II style bomber jackets were very popular and saddle shoes seen as very stylish for boys. Suits were mostly single breasted and with long pants. Short pants suits might be worn by younger boys, often in the Eton style. A variety of "T"-shirts and shorts were available for summerwear.

Headwear

Boys still wore caps and sometimes hats when dressing up, but headwear was decliningh in popularity. Baseball caps were populat for casual wear. Younger boys mightwear peaked caps when dessing up. They were popular with the juvenile Eton suit. Heaswear was most common durung the winter. There was severalm styles. One was a base ball-like cap. Some had ear flaps that were secired over the crown when not needed. We see some cap examples in a Chips and Twigs advertisement.

Toddler Clothes


Shirts

Boys wore a variety of shirts during 1952. Boys wore short skeeves in the summer and long sleeves un the winter. We note solid colors and prints (tatersalls, and plaids), normally done in plain collars. Cotton "T"-shirts were especially popular for warm-weather summer wear and there were long-sleeved "T"-shirts for the Fall. Both were wirn to school by primary-age boys. . Stripes were popular for "T"-shirts. Colorful flannel shirts were popular for schoolwear.

Coats


Jackets

Boys wore a range of jackets, including both light jackets for cool days and heavy jackets for winter wear. They were cut variously. Some were cut at waist level, mosly light jackets. We see jackets World War II style bomber jackets were very popular. Other jackets hung below the waist to upper-thigh lengths. We see an example that might be worn to school in a Chips and Twigs advertisement. Longer garments were normally classifiedas coats.

Suits and Sports Jackets

Casual clothes were growing in popularity by 1952. Boys still wore suits, but dess up occasions were becoming less common. Boys increasingly wore casual clothing or perhaps a white short and tie rather thansuits which much more common before World War II. American boys in the early 1950s were increasingly wearing single breasted suits. Black and navy blue suits were the conservitive choice which became a classic style. Grey was also a conservative choice, but much less common thin Britain. Brown was a color widely used fior boys' suits. Sports jackets had become very popular. A popular style for sports jackets were a two-fabric style. Most boys were wearig long pants suits, but boys under 10 years of age might stull wear short pants suits, especially boys from affluent families. Juvenile Eton suits were commonly worn by younger boys.

Pants

It was the 1950s when jeans made their real debut in American fashions. They were not considered fashionanle, but they were very popular. Jeans were worn by most elementary school boys. Teenagers also wore jeans, although many high schools did not permit them. Jeans were worn cowboy style with big cuffs as seen in the movies, so that had to be bought long. Corduroy was still a popular fabric, but not as popular as the 1930s when virtually every boy had a pair of corduroy knickers. Boys also wore a variety of slacks in a range of fabrics, often blended fabrics with rayon. Long pants were the predominate style, but some younger boys wore shorts. Many boys even at a young age wore long pants. Summer shorts were available in sizes up to 18 years, but mostly 6-12 years.

Playwear


Hosiery


Footwear

We see quite a range of footwear offered for boys. Most boys still wore leather schools extensively, especially to school. Saddle shoes were seen as very stylish for boys. We also note sandals, but they do not seem to have been very popular for boys.

Sears Spring and Summer children's footwear

Sears offered a range of childrens shoes. On facing pages there were both girls and boys styles. These were shoes for younger boys, sizes 12½ through 3. There were two categories. The heading "child stormwelting" was captioned, "between upper ??? sole seals out mud, dirt; helps hold shoes in ??? .. Made over small boys' lasts for ??? fit." Some of the shoes featured a double-thick tractor tread while others had plain rubber soles. The other heading was for "small boys' Biltwels". I believe that Biltwel was a Sears store brand. The caption read, "stamina-packed champions at a low, low Sears price .. made ove comfort-giving lasts .. sturdy leathers .. flexible soles."

Pajamas


Underwear

E-Z Boys’s Boxer-length cotton briefs

The ad here again the father-son formula. The boys wear briefs with short legs whereas the father wears a long-leg model of knitted underwear. This is a style that was not as popular as briefs. Both father and son wear t-shirts. EZ is a company we have noted marketing underwear since the 1930s.






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Created: December 11, 2001
Last updated: 8:24 PM 12/27/2013