Figure 1.--American boys not yet breeched mostly wore long stockings with dresses and other skirted garments. The dresses were often quite long. This Boston boy looks to have been photographed in the 1880s.

American boys wore long stockings with a wide range of clothing. Conventions for wearing long stockings varied from country to country. In the late 19th century, American boys wore long stockings with dresses, kils, and kneepants. In the early 20th century they were mostly worn with kneepants and knickers. After the early 1920s they were mostly worn with short pants. The hosiery worn by boys with dresses varied with the age of the child. Younger children up to about age 5 might wear short white socks during the warmer summer months. Older boys still wearing dresses would normally wearlong stockings, although often their dresses were relatively long. American boys in the late 19th century commonly wore kilt suits. Almost always they were worn with long stockings. Highland kilts were worn with kneesocks, but they were not common in America. The kilt suit, however was very commonly worn into the 1900s. The length of the kilt varies. Most were knee length or longer. The stockings worn were usually dark long stockings. Boys in the late 19th century wore long stockings that went above the knee with knee length pants. By the 1870s most boys were wearing kneepants and they were almost always worn with long stockings. The stockings were mostly black in the late 19th century or some dark color. A fashion of horizontal striped stockings was fashionable in the 1860s-70s. Boys usually continued wearing wore dark stoclngs with the knickers that for the most part replaced kneepanrs during the 1910s. Knickers became increasingly popular and by the 1920s were increasingly worn with knee socks. Hoisery styles changed after the turn of the century. White stockings appeared instead of just black or dark colored stockings. Short pants became increasiungly popular in the 1920s, especially in Europe. The early short pants came to the knee and during the 1910s were worn with both long stockings and knee socks

Dresses

American boys not yet breeched mostly wore long stockings with dresses and other skirted garments. Thus the hosiery an be doffivult to identify, but as far as we can tell it was usually long stockings. We note boys wearing different types of long stockings with dresses. We note colored, white, black and striped long stockings. The dresses were often quite long. The hosiery worn by boys with dresses varied somewhat with the age of the child. Younger children up to about age 5 might wear short white socks during the warmer summer months. Older boys still wearing dresses would normally wear long stockings.

Kilts

American boys in the late 19th century commonly wore kilt suits. Almost always they were worn with long stockings. Highland kilts were worn with kneesocks, but they were not common in America. The kilt suit, however was very commonly worn into the 1900s. The length of the kilt varies. Most were knee length or longer. The stockings worn were usually dark long stockings.

Figure 2.--Here we see two brothers about 1910. I am not sure which boy was doing his First Communion. The oldr boys wears a knices suit and the younger boy a knee pants suit. (It may be a hand-me-down from his older brother. Black stockings were very common at the time.

Trousers

We note American boys wearing long stockings with many different types of pants or trousers. Long stockings were widely worn in America for nearly a century, from about 1860-1940. They were very common for both boys and girls and worn with skirted garments as well. Long stockings were especially common with knee pants and bloomer knickers, but we also see them being worn with regular knickers and short pants. They were not very common with long trousers, but some bouys did wear long trousers and some of them may have wirn long stocking. here we are not entirely sure. While the photographic recor clearly shows boys wearing long stockings in shortened-length trousers, there is no way to tell for the boys wearing long trousers. The conventions in America were somewhat different than in Europe. We see many European boys wearing socks. While not unknown in America, long stockings were much more common even for very young boys. Almost all American boys in the late-19th century and early 20th century wore long stockings. The major exception was boys going barefoot during the summer. We see some American boys wearing socks dyring the summer in the early 20th century, but this was very rare in the 19th century.

Footwear

We normally see boys wearing long stockings with shoes. Generally this was various styles of high-top shoes. This varies somewhat chronologically. We see low-cut shoes in the 1860s and again in the 1920s-30s. Boys also wore long stockings with strap shoes. This was most common with younger boys. We also see some boys wearing sandals. A good example is the Hubbard brothers in 1917.

Created: 12:59 AM 12/12/2007
Last updated: 12:59 AM 12/12/2007