Figure 1.--This decorative cabinet card show two boys wearing matching short pants suits. with patterned long stockings. the portrait is not datesd but would have been taken about 1930, either in the kate-1920s or early 30s. The Studio was Colby in Fort Atlinson, Wisconsin. Long stockings were more commonly worn in northern states like Wisconsin than the rest of the country. Click on the image for a fuller discussion.

Stripes (actually bands)were by far the most common of the patterns used in long stockings. The photographic record establishes that beyond any question. There were, however, some more elaborate patterns. We do not see a lot of examples, but we have found some. While we see many boys wearing striped stockings, we note very few boys with these patterned stockings. Notably American boys began wearing knickers with loud patterns in the late-1920s. Assessing prevalence with the photograohic record has some issues in the studio-dominated 19th century, but not after family snapshots appeared in the 20th century. They becane very prevalent in the 1930s, but only in America. We also note patterned long stockings, but they were not at all very common. And we have a very extensive archive of period photographs show children's clothing. This is also demonstrated in mail order catalogs and advertising. We mostly see them in the same period in which the loud patterned knees socks were common. The patterns were different. Argyles dominated knee sock patterns, but for some reason are rarely seen in long stock patterns.

Created: 5:38 AM 9/28/2020
Last updated: 5:39 AM 9/28/2020