Figure 1.--We see boys wearing long stockings for formal events like weddings as well as wearing them for play and sports. This boy is dressed casually with a cardigan seater and knickers and wears black long stockings.

We se boys and girls wearing black ling stockings both when dressing up in suits and for casual and playwear. Boys wore black long stockings with dark suits such as the boy here (figure 1). We also notice boys wearing black long stockings with light colored suits. A good example is a boy on a family camping trip. As a general matter while boys might wear black long stockings with a light suit, it was unusual to wear light-colored long stovkings with a dark suit. An exception here was very young boys wearing Fauntleroy or other juvenile suits, especially dressy suits. We see boys wearing black long stockings for virtually every activity and with just about anu outfit. We even note girls wearing them with bathing costumes. We see boys wearing black long stockings with suits going to church or with corduroy knickers to play football or other sports. We also see boys wearing casual outfirs such as swreaters and knickers with black long stockings. While black could be worn for both dressing up and play, white stickings were mostly wore when dressing up, especially by boys. . A reader writes, "I think you are entirely correct here. One does see mostly boys wearing white long stockings with Fauntleroy and other juvenile suits or white tunic suits. HBC has a few such images." This was more common in the 1900s than the 1910s. For the most part, however, the older boys wearing the sack suits normally wore black or other dark stockings with dark suits.

Created: 10:27 PM 4/13/2006
Last updated: 10:27 PM 4/13/2006