The basic categories of stocking supporters on HBC are (1) Garters (individual garters and hose supporters sold separately without being attached to waists; (2) Garter Waists (which includes "skeleton waists," "Dr. Parker Waists," shoulder garters without a waist band, and other models); (3) Suspender Waists; (4) Underwaists; and (5) Waist Union Suits (union suits that also functioned as underwaists). While these are the basic categories, there is some overlap in the five categories. Our division is further complicated by the fact that various terms have been used within the five categories for the same or similar garments. Our five categories were terms used in contemporary magazines and catalogs. HBC readers should not expect to find these terms used in all period magazines and catalogs because there was no real consistancy employed by the people who wrote the ad copies. Thus we have developed these categories to create some basic order for this complicated subject.

Figure 1.--These garters were called hose supporters, one of the many terms which makes ctegorizing the different types of stocking supporters complicated. This 1911 advertisement was for "Velvet Grip" hose supporters.

Garters

This category includes round garters worn to hold up knee socks and hose supporters with button-and-loop clasps (for the tops of stockings) worn to support long stockings and suspended from some form of a waist or from another underwear garment. Garter (or gartier) is of historic origin. The word appears to have entered the English language from Old North French in the early 14th century. The word was derived from the French word describing the bend of the knee. It came to be the symbol for an English knightly order--the Order of the Garter. This kind of garter was worn around the leg just below the knee. Garters were worn by both children and adults. There are two basic types. One was an elastic band worn around the leg. This type was commonly used by children to hold us kneesocks. Scouts were noted for adding a colored tab to the round garter. This type of garter was commonly used before kneesocks with elasticised tops became popular. The round garter was also sometimes worn above the knee for holding up long stockings, but this was discouraged by doctors and health specialists because it restricted circulation, and hose supporters were recommended instead. The other type of garter was the hose supporter (or in England "suspender")--an elastic strap suspended from an undergarment. Supporters were worn by both girls and boys to hold up long stockings. Most hose supporters in America were fashioned in a Y shape with a single elastic strap descending from the waist line and then dividing into a shorter double strap with clasps at the end for attachment to the stockings. Hose supporters were originally buttoned onto underwear, but, later, buttons were almost universally replaced by safety pins for attachment to loops or pin-tubes on the underwear. Supporters could be adjusted for length by means of a buckle. Hose supporters were sold separately and could be bought to replace detachable supporters already supplied by other garments such as garter waists.

Figure 2.--Here we see some different styles of garter waists offered by Sears in 1939. A variety of different names were used.

Garter Waists

Garter Waist is a generic term that includes almost any separate garment designed specifically to support long stockings and provides a means of attaching hose supporters. The term "waist" is used because most garter waists have a waist band to which the supporters are attached. Not all garter waists, however, have waist bands. Some are constructed so that the garters are suspended directly from the shoulders. Garter waists have been referred to by a variety of names--"waist supporters," "garter waists," "Dr. Parker waists," "skeleton waists," "shoulder garters, "combination belt and supporters," etc. Garter waists can be just a simple waist band with garters attached (a garter belt) although such garments in America were only for women and girls whereas, in Germany, they were also worn by older boys. The term, garter waist, didn't come into general use until about the 1920s and was most common in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. The term "hose supporter" can also cause confusion because it applied to any device to hold up long stockings--i.e., either the individual garter sold separately (as in category 1 above) or to a garment with hose supporters already attached. The Sears garter waist ad for 1939 (Hose Supporters and Suspenders) shows garter waists with supporters already attached in addition to hose supporters sold separately. These latter are pin-on garters which could be pinned onto a pantywaist or a waist union suit or could be purchased to replace the detachable supporters on a garter waist. Technically speaking, suspender waists (the following category; see the Samson and Kazoo examples) are garter waists also because they are waists with garters attached. Occasionally one sees the term "suspender waist" used for skeleton waists or Dr. Parker style garter waists because these garments have suspender straps. But HBC is reserving the term "Garter Waist" for garments which are worn entirely as underwear and are not basically a modification of suspenders for trousers. The term garter waist became current in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, but garments of the same type made in earlier periods, regardless of how they were then designated, are really garter waists under other names. The term garter waist has no gender significance because it was worn equally by boys and girls, whereas the Suspender Waist (see below) was mainly a boy's garment because of the trousers attachment.

Panty Waists

We note some companies referring to children's underwaists as 'panty waists' or 'pantie waists'. The term 'panty waist' originally seems to have referred referred only to an underwaist. We believe that this term appeared bedfore the term 'panties' became the general term used for women's and girl's underwear pants. And it was probably used by mothers even after the term 'panties' began to be used in the modern sence. We had thought that 'panty waists' was purely a derisive term meaning sissy boys. But in researching the subject, we find that that panty waist was initially used a a term for underwaists. We note many examples. We note Dr. Parker waists described as 'panty waists' (1924). We see a Minneapolis Knitting Mills advertisement (1928). This was a major manufacturer. This was the chief meaning. It was applied later to waist union suits as an adjective--"Panty Waist Union Suits"--i.e., union suits with the features of a panty waist built in. So we must distinguish between a panty waist (= underwaist or garter waist) and panty waist union suit (= union suit with garter waist, underwaist, or panty waist features). We are not sure yet when the term was first used. An example is an unbranded waist union suit in 1921. And we note that boys by the 1920s had begun to take exception to the term. One manufactuyrer, Kazoo, picked up on this issue and warned mothers, ""Mothers! You're to Blame [for the fighting shown above]. "Sissy" is a fighting word with manly boys. Don't rig 'son' out in girlish garments. Get Him Kazoo." An example is the Sierra children. We notice similar recollections from Peggy and Tint. Even so, the term continued to be used in the 1930s. An example is the Lane Bryant catalog (1935). A reader writes, "I calculate that the term "panty waist" as a term of derision began to be popular at the end of the 1930s--pre-war period. That's when we have people using it publicly. But I remember it as a boy's term as early as about 1932 when I was five years old. Even if the actual term wasn't used when this ad was published (1921), boys, I think, would not have welcomed the term because they hated wearing 'panty waists' even in 1921. So I think there is a double reaction involved with this ad. As I said, the great majority of ads for this kind of underwear refer to it as simply "waist union suit", not 'panty waist union suit'. Also the term "underwaist" was much more usual than "panty waist" during this period for the same reason, although both terms were used."

Figure 3.--This is a 1920-21 ad for Kazoo suspender waists. It appeared in the Harris Suspender Company's catalog.

Suspender Waists

Suspender waists were a support garment to hold up other garments in addition to stockings. So-called "suspender waists" were invented at the turn of the 20th century and were popular mianly with boys who wore knee pants and needed a way of supporting their long stockings--almost always black. Although some models of the suspender waist (such as the Kazoo) were manufactured in styles that could be worn also by girls, the main wearers of these waists were boys. They were called "suspender waists" because they combined trousers suspenders with hose supporters and often had leather suspender mountings or attachments for holding up knee pant which would be visible when the boy was fully dressed. These garments featured suspender straps for trousers worn over a boy's shirt, but the same straps that supported the trousers also continued below the waistline and had hose supporters for attaching to the tops of long stockings. The straps above the waistline were visible whereas the lower part of the strap with the hose supporters was concealed under the trousers. This style didn't last very long and was most popular during the 1910s. Older boys (as old as 18) preferred suspender waists to underwaists or other support garments because they were more grown-up, more masculine, more like suspenders worn by their fathers, and less like the garter waists or underwaists worn by girls or smaller boys. Note that suspender waists are not to be confused with the older style of garter waists (such as the Dr. Parker waist) which also had suspender-like straps over the shoulders, a waist belt (sometimes with waist buttons for outer clothing), and hose supporters. With true suspender waists only the garter part of the waist can be classified as underwear because the shoulder straps would be visible (like ordinary modern suspenders) on top of a shirt. This distinction breaks down of course with the suspender waists made for girls which, in fact, are just another form of garter waist worn entirely as underwear.

Figure 4.--Here are different styles of Ward's underwaists offered in their 1924-25 Fall-Winter cata;og.

Underwaists

Originally stocking supporters had been suspended from vest-like underwaists (also called "pantywaists"), sleeveless bodice-like undergarments, worn by both boys and girls, which had buttons for attaching the garters and other clothing such as underpants, bloomers, skirts, and trousers. This style of garment eventually developed by the first decade of the 20th century to provide special tape loops, eyeleted tabs, or metal-pinning tubes for attaching the supporters by means of safety pins. But these "pantywaists" (as they were sometimes called in common parlance although usually not by the manufacturers or advertisers) proved most suitable for younger boys up to about age 8, and although they continued to be manufactured for children up through the age or 12 or 13, were hated by older boys as effeminate and juvenile. Underwaists came in a variety of styles but two types predominated--the knitted style which was warmer and close-fitting and the cambric, non-knitted style which was somewhat looser. Both types had waist buttons, reinforcement straps, and supporter tabs. Some opened in front, some in back, and some simply slipped over the upper body and had no closure buttons at all. Some underwaists had button closure at the shoulders to allow for a child's growth.

Figure 5.--This ad for a waist union suit appeared in a 1929 issue of "Parent's Magazine". Waist union suits were also calkled waist suits.

Waist Union Suits

In the early 1920s the waist union suit was developed and remained popular until the mid 1940s. This garment (for both boys and girls up until about the age of 13) combined the basic one-piece union suit, the standard form of children's underwear, with the underwaist (with reinforcement straps, waist buttons, and garter tabs) so that a single garment could do duty for two. Wearing one layer rather than two made getting dressed easier, and mothers saved money by not having to buy both a union suit and an underwaist or garter waist. These suits were sometimes referred to as "combination suits." Waist union suits came in both summer and winter styles. The summer style was usually made of nainsook and was like a junior version of adult BVDs. It had short legs and was usually sleeveless so as to be cool. Usually the girl's summer style was a bit different from the boy's summer style, the latter having front buttons from the neck to the crotch. The winter style was knitted like ordinary union suits and could be had with short sleeves and knee-length legs or with long sleeves and ankle-length legs. All these garments, whether winter or summer, or whether for boys or girls, were equipped with waist buttons for outer clothing and tabs for hose supporters. Waist union suits normally had all the features of an underwaist plus the usual features of a summer or winter union suit. These went out of style in the mid-1940s when long stockings ceased to be widely worn and when garter tabs on underwear were no longer necessary.

Make-shift Arrangements

Some children from poorer backgrounds had to hold up their stockings by make- shift arrangements. Some mothers pinned hose supporters directly to children's underwear rather than to the special tabs of underwaists or waist union suits. Stockings were sometimes safety-pinned directly to underpants without the use of supporters. These arangements were usually unsatisfactory because of the tearing of underwear and stockings that inevitably resulted. Some mothers sewed their own garments for stocking support. Cheap sew-on supporters were available at notions counters, and some mothers just sewed these onto home-made bodices or undervests. Some of our German readers, for example, report that inexpensive, home-made devices for supporting stockings were fairly common in Germany. We also notice the make-shift arrangements in Scotland. A good example is a description by George Douglas in his 1901 novel The House With the Green Shutters.

Created: 1:32 AM 6/30/2005
Last updated: 2:58 AM 9/26/2011