Figure 1.--American boys commonly wore knickers during the 1920s-30s. Boys from wealthy families, especially those with English or other European connections, were more likely to wear short pants. Note the distinctive patterned kneesocks, commonly worn by American boys during this period.

We are preparing a series of pages on national clothing styles. We now have over 70 countries listed in our country section. Most have a linked page with at least some basic information on clothing in that country. We have developed detailed information for several mostly European counties and the United States. Many of the country pages, however, are just being sketched out at this time. So don't expect too much yet. We have a lot of other pages to do, so it will be a while before we can focus on all the countries on our list. Of corse here we need your assisatnce. HBC does not have the capability to visit or even reserach all of these countries. Do let us know if you have any text or images to contribute about your country. We are interested in adding information about every different countries around the world. The current Euro-centric focus of HBC is because European readers have been the most willing to contribute information. We have tried to create a page for each country, even if only limited information is available. This provides a location for collecting information. We hope that our readers will contribute insights into fashion trends in their own countries. HBC has collected information on more than individual countries. The information on most of these countries still sketchy. We have, however, succeeded in collecting quite detailed infornation on America and several European countries. Central America and Mexico are located in North America, but for cultural consistency, we have archived them under Latin America. The principal North American country is the United States. American fashions have been largely influenced by Europe, but began to diverge after World War I. Since World War II. America has been a major influence on biys' fashions around the world. Canadian fashions are quite similar to american fashions, but with a greater English influence. Another factor has been the French Canadian population centered in Quebec.

Bermuda

Bermuda is an Atlantic island about 650 miles into the Atlantic off North Carolina. The island is a popular vacation destination with pink sand beaches. It is noted for smart casual clothing. Most famous of course are Bermuda shorts. We have, however, been unable to find any information about boys clothing on the island.

Canada

HBC has begun to collect some information on Canadian boys wear. Canada is a bicultural country with both English anf French influences. The French have, however, had only limited influences on boy's fashions. Rather the dominate influences have been the climate and America. HBC has only limited information on Canadian boy's clothing trends. At this time we have virtually no information on the 19th century. After the turn of the century knickers began to replace kneepants. In the 20th century the trend has been primarily a shift from English and French fashions to American styles. Canadian boys in the inter-war period wore varied styles, including short pants, knickers, and long pants. Reflectibng the English and French influence, short pants were worn by some boys, but not nearly as commonly as in Europe--probably due to the severe winters. After World War II, HBC has noticed little difference between Canadian and American fashions.

United States

America basically followed European fashions in through the early 20th century, although two classic styles Fauntleroy suits and Buster Brown suits did originate in America. After World War I, American and European fashions diverged. Short pants were never as popular in America as in Europe. American boys more commonly wore knickers. It was after World War II, however, that American styles began to dominate childhood fashions around the world. The smart, wealthy set in America still looked for Europe to set fashions. But American boys knew what they wanted and it wasn't Italian strap sandals and English short pants suits. It was "T" shirts and blue jeans. By the 1950s this was a virtual uniform of American boyhood. In the next decade these styles spread to Europe and eventually around the world. Even the Iron Curtain and the KGB was powerless against the relentless onslaught of American fashion. Today virtually any where you go you see baseball caps, "T" shirts, and jeans.

Created: June 30, 1988
Spell checked: July 30, 1999
Last updated: 10:08 PM 9/11/2007