Figure 1.--This unidentified boy looks to be wearing a dress with striped long stockings. The tintype portait is difficult to date. We would guess the early-80s.

We see boys wearing striped long stockings with a variety of the various garments popular with younger children. All of the garments worn by younger children were worn with striped stockings. Not all children wore these striped stockings, but they were a very popular style of hosiery in the 1870s and 80s before dark, solid long stockings became so popolar in the 1890s. The garments included both skirted garments and shortened-length pants younger boys wore. The skirted garments included dresses, skirts, tunics, and kilt suits. The suits included a variety of juvenile suits with both knee pants and bloomer knickers. We do not think they were worn much with long trousers, but this is very difficult to assess and we cannot yet confirm this. The suits included both jackets and blouse suits. This included a wide range of styles during the approximately two decades that these striped stockings were particularly popular. We are not yet sure about the relative popularity of these garments with these striped stockings. One type of suit younger boys wore that was not worn with striped stockings were Fauntleroy suits.

Skirted Garments

Younger boys in the 1870s and 80s wore a range of skirted garments. The skirted garments included dresses, skirts, tunics, and kilt suits. This included a wide range of styles during the approximately two decades that these striped stockings were particularly popular. We are not sure at this time if any of these specific skirted garments were especially associated with striped long stockings. We are not yet sure about the relative popularity of these garments with these striped stockings. They were worn with skirted garments for the same reason that they were worn with shotened-length pants, the garment did not cover their legs. And the colorful stockings could be used to complement the colors of the skirted garment which were somewhat more colorful than suits and pants. Unfortunastely this is difficult to track in black and white photography. We do not note pantalettes being worn very commonly with striped long stovkings. We are not sure precisely why. It may because pantalettes were decling in popularity or perhaps mothers did not want to coiver up the brightly colored stockings.

Suits with Pants

The suits worn with striped stockings included both jackets and blouse suits worn with shortened-length pants. The suits included a variety of juvenile suits with both knee pants and bloomer knickers. We do not think they were worn much with long trousers, but this is very difficult to assess and we cannot yet confirm this. The suits included both jackets and blouse suits. This included a wide range of styles during the approximately four decades that these striped stockings were popular. We are not yet sure about the relative popularity of these garments with these striped stockings. One type of suit younger boys wore that was not worn with striped stockings were Fauntleroy suits. At the rimes boys commonly wore suits. This was especially the case when having portraits made. We do not know if boys dressed casually with a shirt and blouse and knee pant also wore striped stockings. We suspect that many boys not wearing suits wore long pants and as mentioned we are less sure if long stockings were worn.

Footwear

Most of the portraits we have noted with childen wearing striped long stockings shows them wwearing high-top buttoin shoes. This was because these shoes were so popular in the 1870s and 80s. Both boys and girls wore them. Low cut shoes existed at the time, but were not nearly as common as the high-top shoes. High top shoes were done in various colors, both browen and black, but this isd difficult to assess in black and white photograohy.

Created: 11:48 PM 9/29/2008
Last updated: 8:58 PM 1/8/2010