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We note children wearing a wide range of hosiery to school. This has varied over time and by age. Gender has also at times beeb a factor. We are not entirely sure what boys wore to schools in the early 19th century. At the time the public school system was still developing and photography did not yet exist. Also long pants were commonly worn, making it difficult to determine what hosiery was worn, at least by boys. We know much more about the second half of the 19th century with the advent of photography. Children both boys and girls wore long stockings. There are very few exceoptins in the photographic record. Socks were much more common in Europe. Boys and girls throughout the 19th century wore basically the same hosiery. Long pants were still very common for boys, except younger boys. This only began to change in the 1880s and by the 1890s we see boys of all ages wearing knee pants, almost always with long stockings. Girls also almost universally wore long stockings. Most boys continued wearing long stockings after the turn-of-the 20th century, but by the 1910s knee pants had been replaced with knickers. Yonger boys after the turn-of-the century began wearing tunic suits and would often wear them with three-quarter socks rather than long stockings. Many boys went to school barefoot, especially in rural areas and the South. This became less common after World War I. As knickers became standard after World War I, boys increasingly wore knee socks--commonly patterned socks. After World War I we begin to see socks being worn. A factor here is that boys began wearing more casual clothes to school. This trend appeared first at primary schools and later at secondary schools as well. Boys at first mostly wore knickers with long stockings, but by the end of the decade, patterened knee socks became popular. Younger boys might wear short pants with a variety of hosiery, including ankle socks, three-quarter socks, knee socks and long stockings. Gradually ankle socks became the dominant hosiery for boys, especially by the 1940s and long pants became increasingly common. Girls continued to wear knee socks. After World War II (1939-45) most boys wore ankle socks. Striped socks were especially popular and fewer and fewer boys wore knee socks. Many boys wore white socks. Tights appeared in the 1960s, but only girls worn them. Tube socks were popular in the 1970s as short pants began to be worn by boys again, but mostly athletic styles.
American children for the most part did not wear school uniforms, thus school hosiery trends were essentially the same as overall hosiery trends, with the caveat that children tend to dress a lottle differently for school than they wore around home for everyday wear. We are not entirely sure what boys wore to schools in the early 19th century. We note white hose in paintings, but as the boys wore long pants and the girls long dreses, we are not sure about the length. At the time the public school system was still developing and photography did not yet exist. Also long pants were commonly worn, making it difficult to determine what hosiery was worn, at least by boys. We know much more about the second half of the 19th century with the advent of photography. Children both boys and girls wore long stockings. There are very few exceoptins in the photographic record. Socks were much more common in Europe. Boys and girls throughout the 19th century wore basically the same hosiery. Long pants were still very common for boys, except younger boys. This only began to change in the 1880s and by the 1890s we see boys of all ages wearing knee pants, almost always with long stockings. Girls also almost universally wore long stockings. Most boys continued wearing long stockings after the turn-of-the 20th century, but by the 1910s knee pants had been replaced with knickers. Yonger boys after the turn-of-the century began wearing tunic suits and would often wear them with three-quarter socks rather than long stockings. Many boys went to school barefoot, especially in rural areas and the South. This became less common after World War I. . As knickers became standard after World War I, boys increasingly wore knee socks--commonly patterned socks. After World War I we begin to see socks being worn. A factor here is that boys began wearing more casual clothes to school. This trend appeared first at primary schools and later at secondary schools as well. Boys at first mostly wore knickers with long stockings, but by the end of the decade, patterened knee socks became popular. Younger boys might wear short pants with a variety of hosiery, including ankle socks, three-quarter socks, knee socks and long stockings. Gradually ankle socks became the dominant hosiery for boys, especially by the 1940s and long pants becamne increasingly common. Girls continued to wear knee socks. After World War II (1939-45) most boys wore ankle socks. Striped socks were particularly popular and fewer and fewer boys wore knee socks. Many boys wore white socks. Tights appeared in the 1960s, but only girls worn them. Tube socks were popular in the 1970s as short pants began to be worn by boys again, but mostly atlhetic styles.
We notice all the different types of hosiery being worn to school by American children, including long stockings, three-quarter socks, knee socks, ankle socks, athletic socks, tube socks, and tights. The popularity of the different types varied substantilly over time. Long stocking were almost universal for several decades. Three-quarter socks and knee socks were very cmmon for a while. Ankle socks became standard after World War II. There were also substantial age and gender variations. And these conventions varied substantially over time. At times boys and girls wore virtually identical hosiery. At other times they wore destinctive hosiery. All the different types of hosiery were worn by both boys and girls. We see boys and girls wearing identical long stockings and three quarter socks. Black long stockings were common with both boys and girls. There were, however, some differences even when boys and girls commonly wore the same hosiery. White stockings and socks were most common with girls. The most obvious difference was with tights. Only girl wore tights. There were other differences. The most obvious was colors. Knee socks were once commonly worn by both boys and girls, but gradually became seen as primarily a girl's style. Tube socks were worn by both boys and girls, but were much more popular with boys as they were an athletic sock.
age was a factor in the type of hosiery worn, to an extent. Much more imprtant were stlistic chronolohical trends.
Boys and girls in the 19th century with some differences basically wore the same type of hosiery with very minor differences. Here it is difficult to asses color because of the black and white photography. But from what we can tell, boys and girls wore the same hosiey throughout the 19th century. We do not see white stocking to any extent after the 1860s and this became a major difference between boys and girls in the 20th century. WE see many girls wearing white stockings when dressing up or going to school. This was not common for boys, except for younger pre-school boys. We begin to see more pronounced dufferences by the 1930s. Girls tended to commonly wear long stockings in the 1930s, but we see far fewer boys wearing long stockings. Here age was a factor. Only younger boys continued to wear long stockings while even teenage girls might wear them. The same dynamic occurred with knee socks, bit more in th 1940s. Bobby socks were popular with girls in the 1940s. And when tights appeared , they were only worn by girls. Tube socks in the 1970s were motly but not entirly worn by boys.
Demographics was a lesser factor in school garments, including hosiery. We think in the 19th century that rural and urban hosiery was similar. One factor here was that rural children were more likely to go barefoot. Going barefoot to school was, however a bit different because of the distances involved. nd of course was not possible in cold winter weather, even in the South. And knee oants, especially for older boys were not a common in rural areas. We are not sire what hosiery thy wore with long pants. And overalls appeared (late-1900s) at at a time when cuty boys were motstly wearing knee poants and knickers with long stockings and kne socks. Again we are not sure wjhat kind of hosiery boys wore with overralls. Following these differences in the photographic record is complicated by the the fact that hosiery id difficukt tommake out when th boys are wearing long pants, including overalls. After World War II the demographic differences largely disappeared.
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