Figure 1.--Here we see a prinary school in 1909. It shows how long stockings, especially black long stockings were virtually universal in the 1900s for both boys and girls.

Long stockings were quite common in the ealy 20th century for boys and girls mof all ages in America, but somewhat less so in Europe. A good example is Harvey Eldridge Hannaford in 1901. We do see younger children wearing short socks, especially during the Summer. Long stockings were, however, very common. This was especially the case of older boys. A good example of contemprary conventions in the Wards 1914 catalog. Younger boys wearing Russian blouse tunic suits are shown mostly in short socks, only slight older boys wearing sailor blouses are shown wearing long stockings. When the new knicker style began to become more popular after the turn of the century, long stockings were still worn as the knickers were worn above the knee. Here we see an Iowa boy in 1903 (figure 1). Note the black long stockings which were very common. The boyon the previous page wears knee pants. The school imsge here showss just how common knee pants and long stockinfs were (figure 1). Boys also wore long stockings with knickers. We note the Moon family wearing long stockings in 1907, even though it appears to be a warm day. While black long stockings were standard, we do see some children weating white stockings. Quite a few girls wore white long stockings, but we see a few younger boys as well.

Created: 12:15 AM 12/17/2020
Last updated: 12:15 AM 12/17/2020