Figure 1.--This American boy in a photograph probably taken about 1905 wears a kneepants sailor suit with long stockings. I'm not sure what color the suit was. |
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American boys still mostly wore knee pants at the turn-of-the 20th century and in the 1900s. Gradually knee pants began to be replaced with knickers in the 1910s and to a lesser extent short pants in the 1920s. These general trends affected sailor suits like other boys' outfits. The time line was a little different for sailor suits. While most boys were wearing knicker suits in the 1910s, we setill see a lot of knee pants sailor suitsin the 1910s. This was also the case for other outfits for younger boys like Oliver Twist suits. Long pants sailor suits were also worn. I'm not sure what the conventions were in deciding to choose a knee pants/knickers or long pants sailor suit. We see quite a sumber of suits with the different types of pants. For most of the Edwardian era, however, most sailor suits were still most commonly worn with knee pants during the Edwardian era. At the turn of the century, long stockings were commonly worn, even during the summer. This continued during the 1900s and 10s. For both knee pants and knickers we generally see boys wearing long stockings.
Knee pants were still commonly worn at the turn of the 20th century. Gradually knee pants began to be replaced with knickers and to a lesser extent short pants. Long pants sailorsuits were also worn. While other pants types increased in popularity during the Edwardian era, it was usually knee pants that were worn with sailor suits. This is a little surprising given the enormous popularity of knickers for boys in the 1910s. These general trends affected sailor suits like other boys' outfits. The time line was a little different for sailor suits. While most boys were wearing knicker suits in the 1910s, we setill see a lot of knee pants sailor suits in the 1910s. This was also the case for other outfits for younger boys like Oliver Twist suits. The major change in sailor suits during this period was not so much in the style of the suits, but in the tendency to wear socks rather than stockings with the suits during the summer.
American boys wore sailor suits were worn with a wide variety of different pants types during the Edwardian and World War I era in the 1900s and 10s. It was knee pants, however, that were the dominant type. Many boys also wore long pants sailor suits. Knickers sailor suits appeared in the 1910s, but they do not seem as popular as the kmee pants suits. There do mot seem to be any difference in the age or other conventions for wearing knee pants or knickers sailor suits. This seems to be entirely a fashion shift. Unlike regular boys suits, long pants sailor suits do not appear to have involved age criteria. The relative popularity of the long pants sailor suits seems to have been lsrgely unchanged from the late-19th century.
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We are not sure what the conventions were in deciding to choose a knee pants/nickers or long pants sailor suits. We do not yet have any contemprary written sources addressing this issue. For the age level of the boys wearing sailors, long pants were not very common. Almost all boys this age wore either knee pants or knickers. There were not very many exceptions for thid, escept perhaps overalls in rural areas. Yet quite a few boys wore lonfg pants sailor suits. There may have been social-class conventions, but we can not yet determinr if this was the case.
At the turn of the century, long stockings were commonly worn, even during the summer. The stockings were held up with stocking supporters worn around the waist or over the shoulders. Three-quarter and kneesocks gradually increased in popularity, especially during the summer. This was, however, much more common in Europe than the United srates. During the winter, however, long stockings still predominated and were almost universally wiorn, with both knee pants and knickers. . Going barefoot was quite common in the the early-20th century, especially the 1900s. This was not as common with sailor suits as it was with other outfits. We are mot entireky sure why. Probably social class was a factor.
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