Figure 1.-This is an advertisement for Slipova children's clothing which appeared in a 1921 issue of "Ladies Home Journal". |
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American mail order catalogs offer a very useful time line on changing fashion trends. Rompers were especially available for pre-school boys and girls. Younger boys still commonly wore sailor suits and there were many different styles. Most boys wore flat caps. Norfolk-styled suits were still very popular. Younger boys might wear various knee pants outfits. School-age boys mostly wore knikers. suits were still commonly worn. There was also a wide variety of hosiery, but long stockings were still very common.
Most illustrations in clothing catalogs and magazines show American boys wearing flat caps and to a lesser extent beanies.
Sailor caps and hats still dominated boys headwear in 1921. Many styles ecisted. There were still some brimmed hats, often
with the brimed turned down. There were also brimless soft caps. Flat caps were worn by oler boys.
A variety of toddler styles were made in sizes from 2 to 5 years. These included styles from smocks to sailor suits.
Altmans called all the toddler boy outfits suits. Two of the styles, however, were smocks. Only one of the styles was a sailor suit. Some had ruffled collars. All appear to have button-on styling. The page includes both boys' suits (at the top) and girls' suits--with one exception (at the bottom). A HBC reader questions this and asks, "I looked at the Altman toddler page. How do we know that the dresses, some of which are blue (which is a boy color) is not for boys and the pink dresses for girls. We do not have all the information on the page, though you may have more information to prove that the clothes
is for boys. I find it interesting that they do not distinguish girls clothes only boy clothes. It makes me wonder whether the dresses were unisex for toddlers?" HBC believes that the organization, boys atvthe top and girls at the bottom (with one exception) suggests a gender orientation. It is certainly possible that some mothers may have chosen one of the dresses, perhaps a blue one for her son. However, the fashion of dressing young boys in dresses has declined substantially since World War I. HBC believes that most boys by 1921 were wearing boys clothes. It is certianly true, however, that the fashion of outfitting younger boys in dresses had not entirely dissapered. A question about color. HBC's assessment of the subject suggests that modern color conventions were not yet established in 1921. Another comment, "If you notice there does not seem to be a distinction between boys shoes or socks at the toddler level and girl shoes and socks. Also, Altman's in comparison to Montgomery Wards seems to offer fancier collars at this age. Also rompers which were very prevalent for
Montgomery Wards seems to be totally absent from B. Altman yet the years 1921 and 1922 are close enough that I would not think that would make a difference. These distinctions may be social class distinctions that we are ignoring. What are your thoughts?" HBC believes that these are very astute comments. These issues had crossed my mind. In fact one of the
reasons we loaded these pages quickly without a lot of comment was to have a primary source that could be referred to in making such assssments.
Slipova was a manufacturwr of children's clothing. A romper suit offered by the company can be seen here (figure 1). Rompers in America were worn by both boys and girls. As far as we know the style was the same, although there may have been color differences. We do not know much about Slipova, but they made rompers, sleepers and playclothes for boys and girls from 2-8 years. It appeared to be a brand name for McCawley of New York.
Sailor suits were still worn by American boys. Often they were available in sizes from about 3 to 8 years of age. Sailor suits were made in many different styles. Kneepants suits were the most common.
Altmans offered an entire page of variously styles kneepants and long short pants sailor suits. Most were for boys from about 3 to 8 years old.
These are more sailor suits offered for younger boys in 1921. We believe that the suits were also from the Altmans catalog, but we have lost the reference and can't be sure. The catalog was notable for the many different styles of salor suits. Most were kneepants suits. Most of the suits were for boys 3 to 8 years old.
Boys very commonly still wore suits in the 1920s, especially the early 20s. It was still quite common to go to school in suits, at least in the cities. We note both single and double-breasted suits. Knickers suits were the modt common. Not many boys wore short psnts suits. Older boys would have long pants suits. Norfolk knickers suits were still very populsr. Older boys in highschool would have long pants suits. A boys best suit would often be a daek blue serge suit. We note a oof example of a blue serge suit with other common boys' items offered by a clothing store, Stafford & Trainor in a newspaoper advertisement.
Long stockings were still quite common although three-quater socks and kneesocks are now being worn, especially in the summer. The styles of socks were especially common for younger children. White was very common, but often with colored bands. More common for children, especually school-age children was long stockings. Almost all children still wore long stocking during the cold winter months. Black was still very common, although girls and sometimes younger boys might wear white stockings. A good example is Holeproof Hosiery which was advertized in the St. Nicholas Magazine.
Quite a number of garments existed to help children hold up their pants/skirts and long stockings. The variety and prominance of tghese garments in period catalogs is a good indicator as to just how important they were in 921. We note this to be the case throughout the 1920s. Many were mixed support garments and underwear. Waists suits were the standard underwear for children in 1921 as long stockings were still common. Styles varies somewhat. Sleeves and leg length varied seasonally. Most boys wore short pants, kneepants, and knickers so except for boys living in the most northern states with severe winters, long leg waists suits were not common.
We note a wide range of underwear offered for children throughout the 1920s. There were destinctive styles and weights for seaonwear. Boys and girls, especialy younger children, tended to wear similar underwear, but there were specil styles such as bloomers for older girls. We do not yet see modern underwear styles. Undderwear was widely avertized in mailorder carlogs, national periodicals, and local newspapers which provide a great dealmof information about period underwear styles.
This newspaper ad for boys' Sexton summer underwear appeared in the Lima Ohio News (June 6, 1921) at the point in the year when children would be shifting to cooler kinds of underwear. The boy illustrated in the ad (probably about 11 years old) is wearing a light-weight sleeveless cotton union suit (of "dimity" material, similar in weight to nainsook but of a smoother texture) material) with adjustable shoulder straps, waist buttons for trousers that button on, and reinforcement straps over the shoulders to provide greater strength to the tabs at the sides for fastening hose supporters. Most schoolboys in 1921 wore long stockings even in the summer time. The suit has loose short legs. There is an alternative style for both boys and girls, but different legs for each gender. The boys had loose knees and the girls elasticized bloomer knees. The manufacturer is a firm called Sexton that made underwear and nightwear for children in the 1920s.
This Nazareth underwear ad in the Ladies Home Journal (July, 1921, p. 121) has some interesting information about children's support garments and why some were chosen over others. It has some new information about underwear ages and choices between standard underwaists and waist union suits.
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