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Knickers by 1910 at the onset of the decade were the dominate style for school age American boys. The change from knee pants to knickers occurred largely in the late-1900s decade. The change from knee pants occurred very rapidly. And it affected boys of a wide age range. A good example of a younger American boy wearing knickers is Grant Fahvenbach who had his First Communion portrait taken about 1910. But like knee pants, knickers were widely worn by even younger boys of high school age. Here we do not see as old as the boys who wore knee pants in the 1900s, but younger teenagers commonly wore knickers throughout the decade. The knickers boys wore like knee pants mostly wore at knee length as can be see on the previous page. Knickers were the dominant type of pants for American boys during the 1910s, but not all boys wore knickers. Younger boys mostly pre-school, but some also some boys in the first primary (elementary ) school grades might wear other garments. Many younger boys wore knee pants outfits. Tunics were still popular and worn with bloomer knickers. Older boys wore long pants, but this varied from family to family. Age was not the only factor affecting who wore knickers. Demographics weee another factor. Knee pants and knickers were never as coimmon in rural areas as in the city. This comes out very clearly in the school of the late-19th and early 20th century. One fashion trend thing which did not change inthe 1910s was hosiery. Most boys wore long stockings with knickers, commonly black long stockings. During the summer many children went barefoot. Footwear did change in the 1910s. We no longer see button shoes. We continue to see high-top shoes, but lace-ups. And we begin to see low-cut shoes more commomly, althogh high-tops still dominated. Basic trends can be observed in school portraits. The clothing details are not as clear as in individual portaits and snap shots, but basic trends can be ascertained because of the bumber of children involved. .
Knickers by 1910 at the onset of the decade were the dominate style for school age American boys. The change from knee pants to knickers occurred largely in the late-1900s decade. The change from knee pants occurred very rapidly. We are not sure why scuch a major faschion change occurred oe why it occurred so rapidly. n
Knickers were worn by boys of a wide age range. A good example of a younger American boy wearing knickers is Grant Fahvenbach who had his First Communion portrait taken about 1910. But like knee pants, knickers were widely worn by even younger boys of high school age. Here we do not see as old as the boys who wore knee pants in the 1900s, but younger teenagers commonly wore knickers throughout the decade. The knickers boys wore like knee pants mostly wore at knee length as can be see on the previous page.
Knickers were the dominant type of pants for American boys during the 1910s, but not all boys wore knickers. Younger boys mostly pre-school, but some also some boys in the first primary (elementary ) school grades might wear other garments. Many younger boys wore knee pants outfits. Tunics were still popular and worn with bloomer knickers. Older boys wore long pants, but this varied from family to family.
Age was not the only factor affecting who wore knickers. Demographics were another factor. Rural areas were still largely isolated from natioinal life, including fashion. Knee pants and knickers were never as common in rural areas as in the city. This comes out very clearly in the school of the late-19th and early-20th century. A factor here is that overalls became commin at about the same time that boys changed from knee pants to knickers. Overalls were not widely worn by boys in the 1900s, but were widely worn by rural boys in the 1910s. So we see many boys coming to school in overalls, especially the younger boys. But very few of the rural boys not wearing overalls wore knickers to school. We see knickers in small town schools where some rural boys living close to town attended. But they are very rare in the one- and two-room schools located in rural areas. This would be the last decade of major rural isolation, in part because of of the automobile. There were decoded nut declkinng differences in the inter-war years, but by the 1930s, states began closing small rural schools and there were no longer major differences by the 1940s in how children dressed.
One fashion trend thing which did not change inthe 1910s was hosiery. Most boys wore long stockings with knickers, commonly black long stockings. Noitice the black long stockingsd here (figurev1). During the summer many children went barefoot.
Footwear did change in the 1910s. We no longer see button shoes. We continue to see high-top shoes, but lace-ups. And we begin to see low-cut shoes more commomly, althogh high-tops still dominated. Notice one of the boys here is wearing low-cut shoes (figure 1). <>br>
Basic trends can be observed in school portraits. The clothing details are not as clear as in individual portaits and snap shots, but basic trends can be ascertained because of the bumber of children involved. School photography is the easiest way of assessing fashion trends. .
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