*** American girls' garments United States pants











American Girls' Garments: Pants

American girls pants
Figure 1.--Here we see three American teenagers enjoying their bikes in 1940. We know their names, [Cary Lew} Udstad, Jean Garrison, and Katherin [probably Udstad]. The girls wear short pants or a short skirt, rompers, and long pants. We think Jean is wearing a romper suit. Sometimes girls tucked up their skirts, but we think Jean may be too old to do this. The snapshot was from a fmily photographic album. The family was from Coatsville / Benton / Berwick, Pennsylvania.

Strangely given modern standards, younger boys in the 19th century might wear dresses and other skirted garmnts garments, but girls never wore pants. This did not begin to change to any extent until after World War I in the 1920s. We are not entirely sure of just what brought this change about after centuries of wearing only skirted garments. The most obvious development was World War with its bringing practicality to the fore and women entering the factory work force in unprecedent numbers. We also note younger children, both boys and girls, being dressed in rompers. The Girl Scouts may have been a factor, especially summer camping. Girls at camp were more likely to weqr pants, at first romprs and shorts. For whatever reason, we begin to see girls wearing pants in the 1920s and 30s, especialy the 30s. But this was mostly in casual situations, like playing around the house and at summer camps. We do not see girls commonly wearing pants to school. One might recall Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird set in the 1930s having to wear a dress to school. Now it was not all that common for a girl to only wear pants at home, but Scout had a brother and had lost her mother. But it certainly was the case that few girls showed up at school wearing pants. And the few examples we see are a low income rural schools. World War II had an even greater impact on American life. Women again entered the factory work force and in much larger numbers than in World War I. Again practicalitty came into play. You even begin to see Holloywood startlets wearing pants, albeit glamerous ones. Only in the 1960s, however, do we see girls commonly wearing pants. We see girls beginning to wearing them to school, but not yet to church. Here American girls led the way for a trend that would be followed in other countries. Gradually in the 20th century it became popular for girls to wear boys' styles like shorts and jeans. There was no reciprosity here. In sharp contrast to the 19th century, boys' did not wear girls' styles.

Chronology

Strangely given modern standards, younger boys in the 19th century might wear dresses and other skirted garmnts garments, but girls never wore pants. This did not begin to change to any extent until after World War I in the 1920s. we are not entirely sure of just what brought this change about after centuries of wearing only skirted garments. The most obvious development was WorLd War with its bringing practicality to the fore and women entering the factory work force in unprecedent numbers. We also note younger children, both bys anf girls, being dressed in rompers. The Girl Scouts may have been a factor, especially summer camping. Girls at camp were more likely to weqr pants, at first romprs and shorts. For whatever reason, we begin to see girls wearing pants in the 1920s and 30s, especialy the 30s. But this was mostly in casual situations, like playing around the house and at summer camps. We do not see girls commonly wearing pants to school. One might recall Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird set in the 1930s having to wear a dress to school. Now it was not all that common for a girl to only wear pants at home, but Scout had a brother and had lost her mother. But it certainly was the case that few girls showed up at school wearing pants. And the few examples we see are a low income rural schools. World War II had an even greater impact on American life. Women again entered the factory work force and in much larger numbers than in World War I. Again practicalitty came into play. You even begin to see Holloywood startlets wearing pants, albeit glamerous ones. Only in the 1960s, however, do we see girls commonly wearing pants. We see girls beginning to wearing them to school, but not yet to church. Here American girls led the way for a trend that would be followed in other countries. Gradually in the 20th century it became popular for girls to wear boys' styles like shorts and jeans. There was no reciprosity here. In sharp contrast to the 19th century, boys' did not wear girls' styles.

Conventions


Types

We notice girls wearing many of the major types of pants, but this varied chronologically. We see girls wearing long pant, mostly after jeans began to become popular (1950s). Girls probably began wearing pants earlier informally n rural areas as work clothes, but it was not the kind clothes that were worn when being photographed. We see some girls weaing overalls in the 1930s, but jeans were not made for girls until 1939. We begin to see fashionable long pants in the 1920s, but they were not worn by girls to any extent until the 1970s. We do not see girls wearing knee pants, prinarily a 19th century style. Nor do we notice than wearing knickers, primarily a 20th century style. We begin to see girls wearing short pants (1920s), but primarily for play and active wear such as gym and camp. We do not see them to any extent in school until mid-century (1960s), first in primary schoola and than in secondary school. We notice capri pants/peddle pushers, another casual style (1950s). Rompers were the first type of pants worn by girls, at first for school gym (late-19th century). They were common in the early-20th centyry, both for gym and summer camp. Until the 1920s they were almost always worn with long stockings. Early bathing suits for girls and women were often done as rompers. Rompers were normally worn with middly blouses, but romper suits appeared in the eraly-20th century, primarily for gym. We notice fashionable rompoer suit playwear (1960s).

Styles


Ages









HGC





Navigate the Historical Girls' Clothing Web Site:
[Return to the Main American girls garment page]
[Return to the Main American boys pants page]
[Return to the Main American girls page]
[Return to the Main girls country page]
[Return to the Main girls page]
[About Us]
[Activities] [Biographies] [Chronology] [Color] [Countries] [Difficult images] >> combine w/ photo interprtation [Fashion] [Families] [Garments] [Gender conventions] [Hair] [Literature]
[Photo intrpretation] [School] [Sisters]
[Return to the Historical Girls Clothing Home Site]






Created: 2:41 AM 7/17/2017
Last updated: 8:05 PM 8/14/2020