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During the interim period between long stockings and knee socks and between shorter and longer-length knickers we see boys wearing knickers with their bare knees showing rather like short pants. This was not real common, but we see a number of instrances, primarily during the late-1910s and early/mid-1920s. The boy on the previous page is a good example. The boy here is another example (figure 1). His knickers are buckled above the knee, but the pants material falls down over part of the knee. The boy's name was Ernest. By the early-1920s, as knee socks had begun to replacece long stockings, some boys continued to buckle their knickers above the knee leaving the knee bare when worn with knee socks. This looked almost like the short pants generally (at least in America) worn by younger boys. This tendency persisted only for a brief period in the late-1910s and early-1920s. Othrer boys would buckle their knickers below the knee so their knees would not show. Gradually this becme unecessary as longer cut knickers became more common. Here we are a little uncertain about the time line because many of the images that we have found are undated, making it hard to establish a time line for this fashion. Some of the available images look to have been taken into the mid-1920s, but we rarely see it in the late-20s or 30s. Many of the images showing boys wearing knee socks and above-the-knee knickers are studio or family snapshot portraits. They often look to be occassions where the boys are dressed up t be photographed. It seems less common for play or school. We have only noted American boys wearing above-the-knee knickers with knee socks and it appears to be an primarily an American style. They may have been worn in other countries as well, but we have not noticed it. This may in part be due to the fact that by the 1920s when knee socks had become standard wear in Europe, knickers had become a garment worn by older boys and younger boys wore short pants. As a result, most photographs of boys in knickers show them wearing long stockings with knickers or below-the-knee knickers with knee socks.
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Return to the Main above-the-knee knickers knee socks page]
[Return to the Main above-the-knee knickers hosiery page]
[Return to the Main knicker page]
[Return to the Main American individual page]
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