Figure 1.--Here we see a 4-year old French boys wearing suspebnder shorts in 1940 for a formal portrait. Notice the blouse with balloon sleeves. It looks to be an unusual pull-over blouse wuithout a collar. Blouses mpre commonly buttoned and were done in light colors. A reader has spotted what looks like buttons so it may not be a pullover. He tells is, "I think this is a knitted garment with buttons down the front. I have indicated the two lower one. I think there is one in the neck ribbing at the top." Put your cursor on the image to see the buttons identified. Also mother has not pulled up his knee socks. That was not very common in formal portraits. This is one of the most recent cabinet cards we have found.

Suspender shorts seem to have been most common in France during the 1940s. This is a little hard for HBC access with any accuracy because of our relatively limited French archive. The images we have found do show many French boys wearing suspender shorts during the 1940s, but our number of images is still to limited to make any firm assessments. A factor here is that so many French boys wore short pants during the 1940s. Many but noy by any means all wore suspender shorts, especially pre-school and primary school age boys. We note both dressy anbd plsy shorts done with suspenders. This depended on both the material used and the blouse/shirt worn with them. The suspender shorts we see in tio the 1940s tended to be short-cut shorts. We also note suspender rompers that were popular in the 1940s.

Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Peter Pan collars] [White kneesocks] [Sailor suits] [Short pants suit] [Shortalls]
[Eton suits] [Knee socks] [Rompers] [Smocks]

Created: 8:19 PM 4/25/2011
Last updated: 8:19 PM 4/25/2011