Figure 1.--

Long stockings in the 1930s were made to longer lengths so they could be worn with the shorter short pants boys were wearing. Early long stockings were made to keneepants or knickers length. They were also being made in the lighter weights and made more trim fitting style that mothers seemed to think looked better with short pants. The advertisments began to addrss the wrinkle problem. Given the lighter weight they were probably not as effective as cold weather wear as before. In addition lighter colors, especially tans became increasingly popular. We see some boys wearing white stockings, but almost always for special occassions. Advertisments picture both boys and girls wearing them. We also note photographs confirming that both boys and girls wore them. Clothing catalog provide some useful information on trends during the 1930s. A good example is the Sears 1931 catalog. Boys might wear long stockings for forml occassions, but many younger adoescents wanted to wear kneesocks. A good example is a cofirmation in 1932.

Prevalence

Long stockings were still quite common in the early 1930s, but clearly declinming in popularity. Most older boys wearing knickers wore them poatterned knee soicks during the 1930s rather thsn long stockings. We still see younger boys wearing short pants with long stockings, but by mid-decade, ankle sicks had become very common. A goog example is a group of Ohio kindergardeners in 1935-36. These younger children were more likely to wear long sdtockings in colder weather, but msny mothers were choosing long pants rather than long stockings by the end of the decade.

Lengths

Long stockings in the 1930s were made to longer lengths so they could be worn with the shorter short pants boys were wearing. Early long stockings were made to keneepants or knickers length.

Weights

They were also being made in the lighter weights and made more trim fitting style that mothers seemed to think looked better with short pants. The advertisments began to addrss the wrinkle problem. Given the lighter weight they were probably not as effective as cold weather wear as before. In addition lighter colors, especially tans became increasingly popular.

Colors

We see some boys wearing white stockings, but almost always for special occassions. Advertisments picture both boys and girls wearing them. We also note photographs confirming that both boys and girls wore them.

Seasonality

Long stockings were commonly worn for warmth. Thus they were most common duringb the cold Winter weather. They were also worn as a matter of modesty. Thus we see children wearing them all year round in the 19th century. It was not as pronounced in Europe, especially southern Europe, but it was very common in America. This began to changes after the turn-of-thw-20th century in Anerica. We see many children wearing three-quster socks, especially in the summer. Even so we still see some children wearing long stockings even in the summer. This became less common after World War I in the 1920s, but even in the wearly 30s we still see children wearing long stockings in the early 30s. An example is Bob Jones in 1930.

Catalogs

Clothing catalog provide some useful information on trends during the 1930s. A good example is the Sears 1931 catalog. Boys might wear long stockings for forml occassions, but many younger adoescents wanted to wear kneesocks. A good example is a cofirmation in 1932.

Reader Comments

A HBC reader writes, "Here is a 'minority commment' or somewhat 'differing analysis'. What I find slightly surprising is that there seems to have been a resurgence in the popularity of long stockings for both boys and girls in America from about 1935 to 1945 and then an almost instantaneous shift away from them. I deduce this from the prominence of advertisements for both long stockings and the hose supporters required to be worn with them in American mail order catalogs 1935 to 1945. It is also notable that boy models are shown for both products during this period and, for the hose supporters, boys are somewhat favored as models over girls. In various places HBC suggests that the popularity of long stockings for boys declined during the 1920s as short pants began to replace knee pants and that this decline continued during the 1930s as knickers became the standard wear for nearly all boys but the very young. I don't dispute this claim at all. But it is also clear from the notable surge in advertising that a minority of boys still wore long stockings with either shorts or knickers during the 1930s and early 1940s; and from about 1937 to 1944 the wearing of long stockings with short pants seems to have made a brief come-back only to disappear almost completely thereafter. I have no idea why this happened unless European influences as a result of the War had some effect. In both Germany and Japan, boys continued to wear long stockings with short pants throughout the war and afterwards, although in the late 1950s the long stockings were often replaced by tights. HBC suggests (I think mistakenly) that boys may have worn long stockings under long trousers (as certainly happened sometimes in Germany) but that the advertisers showed images of boys in shorts and long stockings as a more effective way to display the stockings. Sears is, and was, a very style-sensitive retailer and would not, in my opinion, have showed boys wearing stockings with shorts if buyers were not adopting this practice. They seem even to have been promoting it as a fashionable way to dress boys even if the boys themselves might not like it very much. In my experience, most boys from the colder climates who had graduated to long trousers in the late 1930s and 1940s wore long underwear (usually union suits) rather than long stockings. Why fuss with garters and waists when ordinary long underwear would offer the same protection with less bother and greater convenience? I think the American boys who wore long stockings during this period did so because their mothers believed in their sons continuing to wear short pants and wanted their sons not only to have protected knees but also to present a more formal and dressy appearance. The boys who wore long stockings with knickers--even with knickers that fastened below the knee--were dressed by mothers who wanted their sons to wear plain-colored stockings that stayed up rather than the alternative patterned, more sporty-looking knee socks that were always falling down."

Created: 7:15 PM 3/25/2010
Last updated: 8:51 PM 5/21/2010