Figure 1.--This 1910 New Years card shows a boy wear winter togs with short pants. I believe the card is Dutch. Like many cards of this period, they are black and white photographs which have been colored. Click on the image to see another way that the sweater was painted.

Cold weather garments have undergone considerable change. Many garments today seen as seasonal garments were once seen as children's clothes an worn year round. Often shirts, jackets, an sweaters were seasonal. The pants a boy wore might be seasonally heavier and made out of different materials, but the style often did not change. Today boys wear short pants during the summer, before World War II (1939-45) shorts, knickers, and earlier kneepants might be worn by boys all year round--whatever the weather. The actual pattern varied from country to country, but the same pattern occurred throughout Europe and North America. Kneepants after the turn of the century were replaced by knickers and short pants--often knickers in America and shorts in Europe.

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Created: February 18, 2001
Last updated: February 18, 2001