Tassels on Boys' Clothing


Figure 1.--.

A tassel is a penddent or hanging ornament for clothing. It is worn with a wide range of clothing including caps, sweaters, and socks. Also used with infant wear garments. Tasseles are also used as a kind of neckwear. The tassles themselves are a bunched grouping of threads, cords, or other fibers and normally done in a kind of roundish knob. We are not sure when tassels were first used. The word tassel appeared in Old English about 1250-1300 from an Old French word. There were Latin roots, but apprently with different meanings. Here we are not sure.

Definition

A tassel is a penddent or hanging ornament for clothing. The tassles themselves are a bunched grouping of threads, cords, or other fibers and normally done in a kind of roundish knob or ball. While the most common form is a ball, the tassels on boys clothing were not always done as balls.

Chronology

We are not sure when tassels were first used. The word tassel appeared in Old English about 1250-1300 from an Old French word. There were Latin roots, but apprently with different meanings. Here we are not sure. We have noted tassels being used on European clothing, especially during the 1930s through the 1950s.

Foreign Language Words


Gender

Tassels have been worn on girls clothing more commonly than boys clothing. This has, however, varied somewhat by country and over time.

Garments

Tassels have been worn with a wide range of boys' clothing. We note them most commonly being used on caps, sweaters, and socks. Also used with infant wear garments. Tasseles are also used as a kind of neckwear.

Caps

We note tassels being used on the caps of European youth groups. This seems most common with the Fascist youth groups in Italy and Spain.

Infantwear

Tassels have been commonly worn as a decorative element with infantwear. They have been used with various garments.

Neckwear

Tasseles have been used used as a kind of neckwear. We often notice them often being worn with Oliver Twist suits, Often with boys these tassels were often neckwear than actually attached to the garment. We are not sure what the proper name for these ties is. We think perhaps ballero string ties. There were variations both with size, color, and the length od the string on which the tassels were held. We also nitice bollero balls, a related style.

Sweaters


Kneesocks

Kneesocks were not normally done with tassels. We do not a few photographs showing boys wearing tassels on their kneesocks. This normally involved home-knitted socks. A good exanple is a German boy in the late 1940s. A reader suggests that they may have been garters. Here we are not sure, but we believe that the major purpose was a decorative touch.

Shoes

A HBC reader tells us that "Tassels are worn on shoes as well. Throughout most of my adult life I have owned at least one pair of loafers with tassels. I must have bought my first pair when I was in my 20s but they did (and do) exist in boys' sizes as well. They are quite common in Mediterranean countries, and a favourite style when the dress code is "casual and elegant". In the 1950s and 60s in northern Europe one could occasionally hear that this style was considered "effeminate" but in our times, with Dutchmen and other Northerners goingsSouth two or three times a year, that bias is seldom heard, if ever." HBC also remembers tassels on loafers in America as well. It seems to us, however, that this was not a common style for boys, more for young adults.






HBC





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Created: 11:41 AM 4/29/2005
Last updated: 1:45 AM 6/17/2010