Figure 1.--We believe that many older boys in the 1900s and 10s wearing knee pants and knickers probably wore suspender waists. The portrait here was taken by Henry Wantland (1864-1953) at his studio in Stillwater, Oklahoma. The portrait shows a 16-year-old boy wearing an above the knees knicker suit. We think the portrait was probably taken about 1910 or so. |
The first suspender waist we note was in 1901. We note quite a few ads in magazines and catalogs. The style did not, however, last very long. They appear to have been most popular during the 1910s. We are not sure just why it disappeared.
We are not sure who invented the suspender waist and when. We notice from the beginning several different brands. We first note it in 1901 in both America and Canada. As far as we know these are the only countries where it was made and marketed. We notice an American magazine ad for Samson suspender waists. A Canadian Eaton's catalog also offered suspender waists in 1901. We notice Wolverine suspender waists in both 1905 and 1906.
We notice Kazoo suspender waists in 1907. Perhaps we need to discuss just a bit the major difference between the Samson and the Kazoo types. The Wolverine is just an earlier name for the Kazoo.
We see the Kazoo suspender waits advertized throughout the 1910s. Examples include 1916, 1917, 1918,
1918 and 1918. We notice another Kazoo 1918 ad for a specificall summer waist. We also notice a Kazoo susender waist ad in 1919. While Kazoo appears to have been the most popular brand, al least measured by the prominance of advertizing, we do also note a Samson suspender waist ad in 1919.
While suspender waists were very widely advertized in the 1910s, we see very few in the 1920s. The only ad we have seen so far is a Kazoo suspender waist in 1920. It's a bit puzzling to us that the suspender waist was basically only on the market for about two decades, and that it disappeared very quickly after about 1920. We suspect that a factor is the declining popularity of kneepants and long stockings with older boys.
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