Figure 1.--This unidentified wears a shirt, floppy bow, knickers, and black long stockings. We can't make out the collar very well. We are not sure about the color of the bow. The boy looks to be about 12 years old. The portrait is undated, but looks to be from the 1910s.

Just as knee pants were common in the 1900s, knickers were commonly worn in the 1910s, almost always with long stockings. Almost all boys except pre-school boys are the very youngest elementary (primary) school boys wore knickers. Almost all of the boys wearing knickers in the 1910s wore long stockings, usually stockings matching the color of the pants. Mothers commonly attempted to match the color of the suit and stockings. But almost all were dark-colored long stockings. Black stockings were also still very common. Some boys went barefoot when wearing knickers, but this was not as common as for boys wearing knee pants, especially in the photographic record. We see some boys going barefoot and wearing knickers, but not nearly as many as we see going barefoot and wearin knee pants in the 1900s. We also see a few boys wearing knee socks (or perhaps rolled down long stockings) with knickers. Thus a few boys have bare knees. It was not very common, but we see some boys dressed like this. While we see some dark knee socks, we do not We do not see the boldly patterened knee socks that appeared in the late-1920s. Some younger boys wore three-quarter socks with knee panrts, often white socks, but these sicks were not worn with knickers. Nor do we see the light-briown tan shades we begin to see in the mid-1920s.

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:
[Floppy bows] [Collars] [Blazers] [Kilts] [Sailor suits] [Ring bearer/page costumes] [Eton suits] [Long stockings]

Created: 12:13 AM 10/29/2010
Last edited: 12:13 AM 10/29/2010