Figure 1.--This American boy wears long stockings with an argyle pattern. Notice that his sister wears plain lomg stockings, probably beige--a popular color at the time. Image courtesy of the BP collection. A reader writes, " My guess on date would be the about 1930--probably about 1928-32. But the patterned long stockings would be the best clue. Also notice that the hose supporters are of the American type with a Y-shape. I don't recall seeing this kind of garters very often in German photos, but I guess they did exist. This style was much more common in America." HBC notes the hight-top shoes the boy is wearing. High-tops were worn in the 1920s, but were not very common in the 1930s.

This photograph is undated. A HBC reader suggests about 1928-32 based on the hose supporters and the patterned long stockings. HBC agrees with the basic period, but would probaably guess the mid- to late 1920s rather than into the 1930s, primarily because of the boy's shoes. The Argyle pattern is another factor to consider.

A HBC reader tells us that this snapshot of two American children wearing hose supporters should be dated about 1928-32, the period being fairlyeasily established by the patterned long stockings worn by the boy. These had a fairly short life in the fashion of the USA, as we can tell from the 1928 Sears catalogue. We also notice various HBC pages that tends to subsrantiate this time estimate. See for instance an unidentified boy at Hull House in Chicago from about 1929. The boy is wearing black pin-on supporters, undoubtedly attached to an underwaist. We can tell that he is wearing an underwaist rather than a garter waist because the hose supporters on garter waists of the period were almost invariably white, whereas pin-on supporters, which could be purchased separately, could be had in either white or black. See the Ward's 1932-33 ad for garter waists and detachable hose supporters. Black was often the choice of mothers for boys because black showed soil less easily than white. The girl is also wearing supporters for her beige (or possibly white)long stockings. You can just barely make out the garter lasps on her left leg, but we can't tell the color of her garters bcause they are covered by her dress. The girl's plain long stockings are of the customary long length for the late 1920s and 1930s. The boy's stockings are much shorter, probably because the patterned stockings were knit somewhat shorter than the more common plain colored stockings. Despite what some HBC correspondents have led us to believe, ordinary plain-colored long stockings did not vary in length according to gender. Boys and girls' long stockings, sold commerically, were usually the same length for both. See the Ward's 1930-31 ads for long stockings.

HBC also notes that the boy's shoes are a helpful chronological indicator. High-top shoes were very common in the 1910s and we still see many bots wearing them them in the 1920s, especially the early 20s. This had significantly changed by the 1930s. Most children except toddlers mostly wore low-cut Oxfords in the 1930s. The primary exception here was that high-top sneakers were still the dominant style. The best way of following popular foottwear trendsis the American HBC-SU school pages showing children at indviudual schools during different decades. A complication here is the Argyl pattern. We also tend to note the Argyle patterns more on the 1930s than the 20s. The patterns during the 1920s seen more varied. Here we are takking more about knee socks than long stockings. Our assessment here is much less substantiatedcthan the shoe styles.

Created: 6:13 PM 8/21/2008
Last updated: 6:13 PM 8/21/2008