U.S. Long Stockings Chronology: Inter-War Era--Gender Trends


Figure 1.--This is what looks like a school group during the winter in Great Falls, Montana. Montana is in the American nothern tier where it really gets cold in the winter. The photograph here is undatd, but looks like the 1930s. The boys are all wearing long trousers, at least the ones in front. Notice the wide cut of the long pants. Many other American boys at the time wore knickers, mostly with knee socks. The girls here are the only ones wearing long stockings. The children look to be 10-11 years old.

There was for many years no indidication whatsoever of any gender conotation for long stockings. The advertising suggested that they were being offered as equally suitable for a boy or girl. The advertising text and images stressed that they were made for active children--indicating that they were suitable for boys. Also of note is that advertisements for boys stockings during this period offered exactly the same styles for boys and girls. Long stockings were truly a uni-gender item. We see both family anf group photographs with the boys and girls wearing long stockings. A good example is an unidentified family in the late-1920s. While the advertising did not change, the photographic record suggests that many boys stopped wearung them in the 1930s. Several factors were at play. Many boys still bwore knickers in the 1930s, but they mostly shifted to knee socks. and more boys were wearing long pants. Younger boys might war short pants, but shots were beginning to be seen as casual summer wear and worn with socks. Boys never much card for long stockings, especially as they had to wear stocking supporters. And with long pants and knee socks, even mothers began to see all the bother as not so important any more. Girls were a little different in that their mothers wore similar garments and with skirts, the long stockings helped to keep warm. Modesty and formality were also factors. A reader tells us, "An account about a Maine boy discussing his 1945-50 experiences wearing long stockings under long pants for warmth. Who is to say the same was not true a generation earlier in Montana?" Yes, that is certainly a possibility. I would say there must have been some instances of this. I would say, however, that it was not very common. We say this because we know from the photographs of the boys wearing knickers that most American boys in the 1930s had stopped wearing long stockings. It is seems unlikely that many boys would wear knee socks with knickers and long stockings with long pants.







HBC






Related HBC Hosiery Pages:
[Return to the main Main U.S. long stocking inter-War gender page]
[Return to the main Main long stocking page]
[Knee socks] [White knee socks] [Long stockings]
[Striped socks] [White stockings] [Tights]



Navigate the Historic Boys' Clothing Web Site:
[Introduction] [Activities] [Biographies] [Chronologies] [Countries] [Style Index]
[Bibliographies] [Contributions] [FAQs] [Glossaries] [Images] [Registration] [Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]




Created: 7:45 AM 12/30/2013
Last updated: 7:31 PM 12/30/2013