Figure 1.--American boys mostly wore kneesocks with knickers. They primarily wore patterned knee socks rather than solid color ones like British and many European boys. This boy wears solid colored kneesocks with an outline of the Argyle diamond pattern..

Kneesocks came in both plain solid colors and patterns. HBC has noted quite a large variety of patterns used for kneesocks. This was a major departure for long-over-the-knee stockings which were almost invariably solid colors. We are not entirely sure of the reason fofr this difference. Manifacturing hosiery with lpatterns might have been technically demanding and this expensive in the 19th century. Long stockings were still sold and worn in the 1920s and 30s when patterned jkneesocks wwere most common, but long stockings were still solid colors during this period. Patterned kneesocks were made in a wide variety of different platterns. One popular pattern was argyles. This is one of the first patternswe noted, being worn with kilts in the 19th century. There were many other patterns, but we are not entirely sure how to describe them. This varied substantially from country to country and over time. There were two basic types. Some were patterned along the entire leg. Others only had top patterns where the kneesocks were cuffed. Argyles were perhaps the most common patterns for kneesocks, but they were ceratinly not the only pattern. We gave seen multi-colored arggyles as well as kneesocks with the familiar diamond Argyle outline, but without the colors filled in. Some patterns were square checks or multi-colored lines colored lines crossing over a solid background.

Top Pattern

British knee socks in the 1920s-30s sometimes had a pattern at the top as did the ones worn by American boys in knickers. British boys commonly wore kneesocks with top patterns. School and scout kneeasocks commonly had stripes instead of a pattern. American boys also wore kneesocks with top patterns. Kneesocks with completely patterned kneesocks were most common for the boys wearing knickers. Boys wearing short pants more commonly wore the solid color ones or the ones with top patterns. Patterned knee socks were much less common in European countries like France and Germany where boys would normally wear solid colored kneesocks, especially with short pants. French scouts wore kneesocks with top stripes.

Full Pattern

Argyles were not the only patterns for kneesocks. While not as popular in Europe and Britain, Americam boys more commonly wore patterened kneesocks than solid clored kneesocks. They were worn primarily during the 1920s and 30s. Most commonly they were worn with knickers, but younger boys also wore them with short pants. A variety of patterns and color combunations wete worn, including argyles. The colors were generally muted. Patterned knee socks were most commonly worn with knickers, but were worn with short pants as well.

Argyles

American boys wearing knee socks with knickers were less likely to wear the plain grey knee socks commonly worn in Europe. One alternative were the kneesocks with patterns atvthe top. The other alternative was socks completely patterned. The most popular were argyles. They were considered rather sporty at the time and thus often not worn for more sporty occassions. They were also popular for adult golfers. Argyles were worn by European boys, but to a lesser extent than in America. Argyles were also worn by American boys with short pants during the 1950 s, but formal wear continued to require solid-colored knee socks.

Created: October 30, 2001
Last updated: 11:18 PM 1/25/2007