Figure 1.--Both boys here with their mother wear grey short pants. The boy on the right wears grey cords with a snake belt. They may be school shorts worn as casual wear in the summer. Notice the school socks the boy on the right is wearing. Gry shorts were common even for casual wear as so many boys had grey school socks. The snapshot here is undated. The dealer thought it wsas taken in the 950s, but color snapshots from the 1950s are rare. The early 60s might be more likely.

Short pants began to be widely worn by English boys after World War I. Previously knee pants were standard. The knee pants mostly look dark, but we are not sure bout the colors. The colors of those shorts were a relatively narrow range. Eventually grey became associate with suit trousers and with school wear. We are mot sure why, perhaps because they do not show the irt as well as many other colors. Play shorts appeared in a relatively narrow range of colors. British readers from the 1940s and 50s mention mention lovat green, beige, and blue. (An American reader recalls the sames colors in addition to brown.) A British reader writes, "As far as short trousers wereconcerned, boys could wear grey, green or beige willy-nilly as the fancy took them. The green and beige etc. shorts were for casual wear but school shorts were always grey. It was up for parents to choose what colour shorts their sons wore out of school, but school uniform shorts in gretv were almost a national standard." Another reader writes, " My cousin wore lovat green and beige shorts practically all the time, in fact he hardly ever wore grey shorts. The only grey shorts he ever had were for school and as part of a short trouser suit that he wore for Sunday best." A much wider range of colors began appearing in the 1960s, especially for younger boys who might wear bright colors.

Created: 9:11 AM 8/16/2017
Last updated: 9:11 AM 8/16/2017