Figure 1.--American boys in the early 20th century mostly wore black long stockings. This began to change in the 1920s, but black was still the dominant color in the ealy 1920s. This boy in 1921 wears black long stockings with knickers. A reader asks, "How old do you think the boy here is? He looks to me to be about 16 to me. Other than the date, HBC has no information on this snapshot. We would think 15-16 years of age would be a good guess.

This in many ways looks to be a good representative image of an older American boy in the 1920s. This boy in 1921 wears black long stockings with knickers. Unfortunately we know nothing about the boy except the date of the photograph. The background suggests to us that that the photograph was taken in a small town, probably a northern state east of the Mississippi. A reader asks, "How old do you think the boy here is? He looks to me to be about 16 to me. Other than the date, HBC has no information on this snapshot. We would think 15-16 years of age would be a good guess. The boy wears many of the classic garments from the 1920s. He weares a beanie. His sweater has a roll neck sweater. We note these in mail order catalogs of the day. He also wears knickers, black stockings, and high-top shoes. A reader writes, "This image is quite interesting for several reasons. Note the sweater with the roll collar, the partly open neck, and the matching band of lighter material around the waist. I don't think I have ever seen a sweater quite like this."

Created: 9:21 PM 1/15/2005
Last updated: 9:21 PM 1/15/2005