Figure 1.--These American brothers are unidentified. The portrait is also undated, but we would guess was taken about 1905. They look about 15 and 12 years old. Notice both boys wear black long stockings despite the difference in the color of their suits.

American children commonly wore long stockings during the early-20th century through the 1920s. The popularity declined during the 1930s. Black long stockings were the most common in the early years, but after Woirld War I, light brown and tan shades become more common. Gradually they became more common for girls than boys, although younher boys wore them in the 1930s, especially during the Winter. Long stockings become much longer in the 1930s, primarily because boys were wearing shorter cut shorts and girls shorter cut skirts. Long stockings were still worn in the early 1940s, but not very commonly and they had virtually disappeared by the early 1950s, but we note a few examples of long stockings still being worn in the early-50s. The last example we have found was dated 1955.

Early 20th Century (1900-20)

Long stockings were still quite common in the early-20th century for boys od all ages in America, but somewhat less so in Europe. We do see younger children wearing short socks, especially during the Summer. 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. A good example is a boy on a family camping trip about 1915. Boys by the 1920s increasingly buckled their knickers below the knee. This tendency and the increasing popularity of short pants caused boys to shift to kneesocks. After the mid-1920s long stockings were not commonly worn in America or Britain, although they did not disappear. Boys might stull wear them for formal occasions, but this was primarily for formal occassions.

Inter-war Years (1920-40)

Long or full-length stockings were still worn by American children, both boys and girls, in the inter-War era, buth the populrity was declining. Long stockings were commonly worn by American children in the early 1920s. We continue to commonly see them in the 1920s, although they were becoming more seasonal. Long stockings rpidly declined in popularity during the 1930s, especially after the mid-30s. They were, however, still worn throughout the 30s and even the early 40s. They were no longer widely worn by boys of a wide age range, we mostly see younger boys wearing them. The boys that continued to wear them tended to be younger boys 10 years old and under.

War Years (1940-45)

HBC has few actual images of American boys wearing long stockings in the 1940s. We note that the big mail order companies continued offering long stockings for both boys and girls. We have noted Sears ads in 1941 and 1943 and presume that there were similar ads in other years. These ads offered them long stockings for boys and girls in two grades with sizes 6-10 years. The colors included tans, browns, and whites. We know that these stockings were being bought, otherwise Sears and Wards would not continue handling them. What is less clear is how the companies know that mothers were buying them for both girls and boys. We suspect that more were being bought for girls, but we have no information to conform this. We note that the better grade of stockings was made in white along with tan and brown. HBC suspects that the white stockings were purchased more for girls than boys.

Post-war Years (1946-55)

We had thought that long stockings had largely disappeared in the 1930s. Mail order catalogs (Sears and Wards) through the 1940s, however, show that long stockings and hose supporters were still being sold in the early 1940s War years. We note pages with displays of some prmonance, After the War in the late 40s the poularity of long stockings appears to rapidly declined. We note that long stockings and hose supporters for them were still offered for sale in the Sears catalogs for 1946-47 and 1947-48. We don't think there were very common, perhaps worn in the northern states bordering Canada. A clue here is the fact that unlike previous years, the catalog display are less and less prevalent. Griowing up in the 1940s anfd 50s, I never remember seeing long stockings. I was rather surprised to find that they were still being worn by boys or girls. Wards also appeares to have handled long stockings, apparently through 1950 or 51. The last dated photographic example we have acquired comes from 1955. At the time long stockings wee still being wirn in Europe, although declining in Western Europe.

Created: 2:48 AM 3/26/2005
Last updated: 5:07 AM 2/13/2012