Knickers: Hosiery Types


Figure 1.--This snap shot is unidentified. We see three teemagers, two boys and a girl eating sandwiches--apparently on top of a steeple roof. Notice the girl who is wearing a beret is afraid her bag will slide down. It looks to us like it was taken in the 1930s or early 40s. We are not even sure where it was taken. It could be American, but we think Europe is more likely. We think it might be British, perhaps taken in Oxford, but that is only a guess. A reader writes, "The boy knee socks seems to be wearing plus-fours, and the boy in the middle could be wearing knee socks and shorts or knee socks and also plus-fours. Could this be somewhere on the continent in the 1940s? Maybe Belgium. The architecture seems to be gothic." We are not sure why they are on the roof. Perhaps it is a nice place to have lunch. Or perhaps it was a spot to watch the fighting during the Battle of Britain. Perhaps a reader will recognize the spires.

We note boys wearing knickers with many different types of hosiery. This varies by country and over time. American boys for the most part wore either long stockings or kneesocks, although many boys went barefoot during the summer, especially in the early 20th century. We note above-the-knee knickers briefly worn with kneesocks in the 1910s. We see some boys wearing knickers with ankle socks, but this was mostly in the late-1930s and early 40s when ankle socks were becominging increasinhly standard. Hosiery types were more varied in Europe where we also see three-quarter soks being worn with Knickers. This was, however, more with bloomer knickers than proper knickers. For some reason, the long stockings worn with knicker were mostly solid colors while the knee sicks were mostly patterned. The patterns in Europe were not as varied as in America.

Long Stockings

Kneepants were more common than knickers in the 19th century and were commonly worn with long over-the-knee stockings. As knickers began to replace kneepants after the turn of the 20th century, boys continued wearing long stockings. Almost always these were dark-colored stockings. There were some exceptions to this. Boys still in dresses might wear white stockings. After the turn of the century, some boys wore their Fauntleroy suits with white stockings. Most Fauntleroy suits had kneepants, but there were some worn with knickers. Regular suits began to be increasingly worn with knickers rather than kneepants in the 1910s. British boys commonly wore them with kneesocks, but most American boys wore long stockings through the 1910s. Only in the 1920s did kneesocks begin to become more important. Even so, some boys were still wearing their knickers with long stockings in the 1930s.

Three-quarter Length Socks

While most American boys wore longstockings with kneepants, Grench boys commonly wore three-quater length socks. As boys began wearing short pants and knickers after the turn of the 20th century, boys began wearing kneesocks with knickers. While worn with kneepants, French boys did not commonly wear thre-quarter length socks with knickers.

Bare Feet

American boys commonly went barefoot during the summer. This included boys wearing kneepants, but also knickers. Only in the 1920s as boys began wearing inexpensive sneakers did going barefoot become less common and it became even less common in the 1930s. Younger European boys also went barefoot in the summer, but these younger boys less commonly wore knickers.

Kneesocks

Photographs show British boys wearing kneesocks with knickers in the late 19th century. This was a common uniform at many boarding schools. After the turn of the century, kneesocks began to replace long stockings wthbknickers. It was not until the 1920s, however, that kneesocks became the dominate type of hosiery with knickers. Unlike the long stockings which were usually black or other dark color, the kneesocks worn with knickers were more commonly patterns like argyles. This varied by country, solid colored kneesocks were more common in England.

Ankle Socks

Ankle socks were not at first worn with knickers. Younger American boys wearing knickers by the 1930s had begun wearing their knickers with ankle socks, especially during the summer. Many American images from the late-1930s and early-40 show boys wearing knickers with ankle socks. Knee pants were almost never worn with ankle socks, nor were knickers in the 1920s. This changed in the 1930s. This was especially true for school and play. When dressing up boys would more commonly wear long stockings or kneesocks. But by the early 40s we even see boys dressing yo with ankle socks, They wee woirn with short pants, knickers, and long pants. A good exanple is Arian Viring in 1941. This appears to be much less common in Europe. European boys did wear ankle socks, but mostly when wearing shorts. The boys wearing knickers were older boys and tende to wear kneesocks.

Tights

Tights were not worn with knickers because knickers had passed out of fashion by the time tights had been invented. Tights today are, however, to some extent worn by German boys who wear knicker or ski-style pants. They are worn as a cold-weather garment. HBC has little information on this fashion at this time.





HBC




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Created: 5:34 AM 12/30/2008
Last edited: 5:34 AM 12/30/2008