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American school children have worn a wude variety of pants over time, At first it obly boys, but in the post-World War II era, girls began by the 1960s commonly wearing pants as well. Knee breeches were the pants worn bu men and boys from the arrival of the first Englishmen through the Revoluntionary era (17th-18th centuries). Long pants first appeared for boys as part of skeleton suits -- the first decicated noys wear. Until the skeleton suit, boys wore down-sized versions of their fathers' clothes. From this point on boys would wear long pants although the age conventions, styles, and prevalence varied widely over time. Next we begin to see shortened-length pants, mostly knee pants (1850s). Ar first only younger boys wire knee pants, but gradually older boys were wearing them. And we are able to follow all of this in detail with the advent of school photography which has become a well established tradution (late-19th century). Eventually teen agers werecwearung knrr oants (turn of the 20th century). Knee pants were stabdards boys wear, especially in city schools. Knickers appearred in the decond half of the 19th century along with knee pants, but they were not very common until the early-20th century. For some reason, knickers suddenly replaced knee pants !1908-10). Knickers were almost universal (1010s) and fairly standard although less common for older boys (1920s). Knickers subsequaently declined. We see knickers (early-40s), but they were increasingly rare after (mid-1940s). Jeand becme popular in primary school (1950s) and then in secondary school (1960s). Short pants appeared (1920s). They were at first for younger boys. Older boys in the inter-War era did not wear short pants to school as they did in Europe. There were at first both dressy and and casual shorts. They were faurly common in the 1940s, but went out of style in the 50s, especially at school. Gradually as shorts became increasingly common casual wear we begin to see more wearing them to school as casual athletic styles became popular. By the end of the century this included teenagers. By this time long baggy shorts had become popular.
Jeans were overalls without the bib-front. John Wayne and other Hollywood starts in their Western roles helped to popularize jeans with boys. Primary boys by the mid-20th century were wearing more casual clothes such as "T"-shirts and jeans. A reader writes, "I was talking with a friend about changing fashions. She told me that when she was in middle school in Berkeley in the late 1940s, boys wore unwashed corduroys, letting them get as dirty as possible. They also liked to wear them as low as possible. Things go in cycles! I also asked her about blue jeans. She said that boys in this area were never prohibited from wearing jeans at either the schools she attended or at the schools she taught at. The prohibition was against girls wearing jeans to high school, which was finally lifted in the mid-1960s. Today it's rare to find a girl who isn't wearing jeans. The dresses and skirts that used to be everyday wear are now reserved for special occasions."
Knee breeches were the first modern pants. They were worn but men and boys after nreeching throughout the 17th and 18th century. The 17th century is when English colonists begana arriving along the ciast of North America.
Knee pants which were so common in the second half of the 19th century, quicklu disappeared with the turn-of-the 20th century. American boys in the 1900s at first continued to mostly wear knee pants, standaed boys wear for several decades. For some unknown reason, boys began shifting to knickers at the end of the decade. Knickers were standard boys wear in the the 1910s and contunued to be the dominant form of trousers in the 1920s. We still see younger boys wearing knee pants in the 1910s, but they were no longer common by the 1920s. Knee pants had essentially made the transition to short pants, although some still had the three button knee trim. American boys unlike European boys almost always wore long stockings woth knee pants--at least when wearing shoes. This changed when knee pants made the transition to short pants. Long stockings became much less common, although some yonger biys wore long stockings with shorys during the winter. This was not common fir school wear excepr fir the very yiunger boys.
Knickers appeared in England during the late-19th century and became commonly worn at schools there. They were part of the school uniform at some public (private boarding) schools. We do not see them being worn commonly at American schools until the 20th century, begiining in the late-1900s. They were quite common during the 1910s-30s, although the age conventions vatied. The ininital age conventions were similar to the age conventionsd for knee pants. Knee pants were commonly worn in the 1900s, but this began to change about 1908-09. And by 1910, knickers became the dominant type of trousers at schools. Many boys wore corduroy knickers to school during the 1910s-30s. We even see some older teenagers wearing them in highschool. This was much less common not very common for the teenagers leaving school at earlier ages. Gradually over time the age of boys wearing them declined as we see fewer boys wearing them with suits. Knickers were widely worn by primary boys as well as the younger teen-agers in junior highdchool. By the early 30s they became mostly worn in primary schools. Gradually they They began to decline in popularity during the late-30s and rapidly disappeared in the early-40s. Both fashion and the World War II desire to save fabric were factors.
Some younger boys may have worn peddle pushers in the 1970s, but they were not very common. They were,m hiwever, widely wirn by girls. We see girls wearing peddle pushers in the 1950s, but mostly for casual wear, not to school. By the 1970s they were being commoly worn to school.
The use of long apnts as school clothes has varied over time. In the early years of public education (early- and mid-19th century, most boys wore long pants to school. After mid-century, youngrr boys began wearing shortened-length pants and they began become common in school. This became increaingly common in ther next decade, but long pants were the most common (1880s). This changed substanbtially with knee pants becoming standard (1890s). By the end of the decade, quite old boys might wear knee pants, even in high school (1890s). Long pants were most common for older teens. They were alsom more common in rural areas. This trend continued after the turn of the 20th century, but by the 1910s we see fewer older teens wearing shortened-length pants. The standard type of shortened-length pants changed from knee pants to knickers. We still see younger teens wearing knickers to school(1920s), but gradually more boys were wearing long pants. We even see many tyounger boys wearing long pants in elementary (primary) school (1930s) Some youngr bboys wire short pants, but long pants were fairly dominant (1940s). Long psntds were virtually universal (1950s). Thrre were some regional variation, but until the later-20th century, most American boys wore long pants to school. The primary exception were 1st and 2nd graders, but even here most of the boys wore long pants. There were also some regional differences.
Overals were developed by Levi Strauss in the mid-19th century. They were a work garment. We do nt see children earing them to school, even in rural areas. We are not sure why that was. Children seem to have dressed formly for school. Overalls existed at the time, but apparently were not considerec appropriate for school wear. Overalls also became a major school garment in the late 1900s. We are not sure why they suddently began to be wirn to school. We see very few children wearing overalls to school in the early- and mid-1900s. Sudenly we see quite a number of boys wearing them in the late-1900s. And by the early 1910s we seen quite a number of boys wearing them. Overalls were very common during the 1910s-30s, but only at rural schools. We do not see them at city schools. hey declined in popularity during the 1940s as differences between urban and rural children began to disappear. It is at this time we see city kids beginning to wear jeans to school, at least primary-age children.
Short pants were also worn by younger boys. This varied regionally and chronolgically. Shorts were most commonm in the South. Short pants were the natural evolutionn from knee pants which were very common in the late-19th and early-20th century. We commonly see short pants after World War I (1920s). At the time, boys wore shorts or knickers all year round as part of age conventions. Shorts were mostly worn by younger boys. Older boys more commonly wore knickers to school. We see youngr teens wearing knee pants and knickrs to high school, but never short pants. There were regional, seasonal, and social class differences. Knickers declined in popularity (1930s). Somee boys wore short pants instread, but mosd tended to wear long pants, especially to school. Here there were regiojsl, seasonal, and social clss differences. Most of the boys wearing shorts to school were the younger boys. By 5th-6th grade (10-12 years old), most boys were wearing long pants to school. Short pants were increasingly bcoming casul summer wear rather than stles younger boys wore (1960s). We only see long pants in high school (lte-1930sd). Many high school hads more more formal dress cides. This continued until the lte 20th century when school dress becme increaing casual sand we begin go see more boys wearing shorts..
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