Figure 1.-- Knickers were much more common in Europe than America in the 19th century. This changed in the 20th century. We tend to see boys weaing knee pants more in the early 20th centuty than knickers. Gradually kneepants went out of style and knickers and short pants became more common. Short pants became more common in Europe and knickers in America. Knickers by the 1910s had become very common in America. The portrait of the American boys here is ubdated, but we would guess was taken in the early 1910s. For a short period in the 1910s and early 20s knee pants became more common for younger boys and knickers for olderboys.

Knickers were much more common in Europe than America in the 19th century. This changed in the 20th century. We tend to see boys weaing kneepants more in the early 20th centuty than knickers. Gradually kneepants went out of style and knickers and short pants became more common. These trends varied substantially from country to county. On the continent younger boys tended to wear kneepants and later knickers. In America kneepants were common in the 1900s, but gradually knickers became alost universal for boys, although some boys wore short pants, mostl;y younger boys. Knickers generally went out of style in the 1940s, but some boys still wore knickers in the early 1950s. This was more common in Europe.

The 1900s

Knuckers were wornnin bith Europe and America. Yhey seems to have been far more popular in Europe. Younger boys there may have worn knee pants, but most ilder boys wore knickers. Good examples are George and Ewan McTherson in 1902. American boys wore mostly knee pants at the turn of the century, but knickers suddenly became popular at the end if the decade Knickers were adopted in 1909 by the new American Scout movement. Scouts in other countries wore short pants. American boys did not like the idea of wearing shorts so knickers were used for the formal uniform. This may have been an imprtnt factor in the sudden popularity of knickers.

The 1910s

Knickers came into their own in the 1910s. Increasingly they replaced kneepants in America. A good example of an American boy wearing knckers in the early 1910s a a dressy outfit is Grant Fahvenburg. An exanple of a boy in a more ordinary day to day outfit is Roscoe Jones, probably about 1915.

The 1920s

The greatest change in children's clothing in the post Wotld War I period occurred when dressing boys in skirts until the age of four or five was discarded. Instead, little boys wore romper suits or short pants. School-age boys wore knickers of corduroy or wool with knee-length socks. Most American boys wore them. They were also wore in Europe, but primarily older boys, younger boys wore short pants. American boys in the early 1920s wore long stockings with their knickers, but by the end of the decada, knee socks were more common. The change from knickers to that first pair of long pants was symbolic of the change from boy to man. Little girls ore dresses cut much like those of their mothers, straight and unfitted.

The 1930s

Kickers were very commonly worn by American boys, especially in the early 1930s. We see fewer older boys waring them in the 30s, but most primary school boys wore them as well as younger adolescents. Knicker suits were also common. Sears in its 1930s catalog still offered knickers for boys to age 18. We see boys wearing knickers suts for their confirmation in 1932. By the late 1930s they were mostly being worn by grade school boys, but they were no longer universally worn. The catalog companies began offering suits with both knicker and long pants. Even so, we notice that Sears in its 1939 catalogs was still offering a variety of knickers in sizes up to 14 and 16 years. Sone of the knicker suits included a pair of "longies" as well. We are not sure how families habdeled when the knickers were wrn and when the longies were worn. The patern in Europe was different. We note younger secondary school boys in Italy wearing short pants and only a few boys wearing knickers. One example is the Ginasio Parini located in Milan.

The 1940s

Knickers were still commonly worn in the very early 1940s by American boys. Knicker suits and kneesocks weree still common in America during the early 1940s, but not neasrly as common as in the 1930s. They declined rapidly during the war years (1941-45). A HBC reader tells us that knickers rapidly disappeared at his private school during the War years. This was a prestigious private school, and the boys there came from well-to=do upper class families that appear to have onsisted on knickers more commonly than boys at a public highschool. One indicator of the declining popularity of knickers was the American Boy Scouts dropping knickers in 1943 and the Cubs also dropping them 2 years later. Boy pages in the American Senate still had to wear knickers, much to their innitation as the House pages were allowed to wear long pants. This was depicted in the movie, "An Adventure in Washington" (1941). Knickers were still worn in Europe, especially by olfer boys deemed to old for short pants. This secondary school pupils and even university students. Again the pattern was different in Europe. We notice boys wearing knickers in several European countries (Belgium, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, and other countries. We also notice them in Canada. We note younger secondary school boys in Italy wearing short pants and only a few boys wearing knickers. One example is the Liceo Foscarini located in Venice. We also notice in many Swiss schools during the 1940s. We are not entirely sure why they persisted longer in Europe. A reader writes, "I am wondering. The baggy knickers seem popular in places where boots are often worn such as Switzerland, Scandinavian countries, etc. Could that be the reason?" I don't think so. If boots were the issue, I don't think baggy knickers would be popular--the baggy bit would interfere with the boots. Cold weather would seem to be the common thread.

The 1950s

Some boys still wore knickers in the 1950s, but it was becoming increasingly less common and mostly primary school age boys. We notice a few American boys wearing knickers in the early 1950s, but it was not very common and we no longer see knickers by the mid-1950s. Growing up in the late 1940s and earkly 50s, however, I never remember seeing them. As far as we can tell in America they were primarily worn as suit pants. Knickers were somewhat more common in Europe during the 1950s. They seem to have been especially popular in Scandinavia. The pattern was different in Europe than America. Younger boys mostly wore shorts. Boys wearing knickers were older boys who no longer wanted to wear shorts, but whose parents did not think they were quite ready for long pants. We do not notice knoickers in England, but we have noted French and German boys wearing them. We are less sure about Italy. We notice them being worn in the mid-1950s, but they were clearly going out of style. School photographs around 1955-56 show some boys wearing knickers, but such images are quite rare by the late 1950s.

The 1960s

We no longer note boys wearing knickers by the 1960s. There were, however, a few notable exceptions. American boys wore knicker baseball uniform. Some German boys wore knicker-length lederhosen. There was even a well known British prep school There's a well-known prep school in r Knightsbridge where boys (and now girls) wear orange brown corduroy knickerbockers.

The 1970s

Boys in the 1970s began wearing formal costumes for evcents like weddings worn by very young boys. We also notice a few choirs wearing knicker uniforms.

Navigate the Historic Boys ' Clothing Web chronol ogical pages:
[The 1900s] [The 1910s] [The 1920s] [The 1930s] [The 1940s] [The 1950s]

Navigate the Historic Boys' Clothing Web style pages:
[Retturn to the Main knickers chronology page]
[Jackets] [Long pants suits] [Blazers] [Kilts] [Sailor suits] [Short pants suits]
[Ring bearer/page costumes] [Eton suits]

Created: 2:33 PM 10/20/2006
Last edited: 9:10 AM 2/7/2015