Figure 1.--This cabinet portrait shows Harry Smith holding a rifle with his dog beside him. The portrait was taken by Jackson in Franklin, Pennsylvania. He looks about 6 years old. The portrait is undated, but looks to have been taken in the 1890s. Note the leather leggings.

Leggings were winter garments for children, obviously to keep their legs warm. We do not know very much leggings in America at this time. We do note some portraits of of younger children, both boys and girls, wearing leggings. They seem to be most common for pre-school children, although we see some older children wearing them. They were not very common for older children, most seem to have been children from wealthy families. . The first ones we see are leather. We see some boys wearing them with Fauntleroy suits. We also note less fancy outfits. A good example is an unidentifed American boy about 1905. The first leggings we see are for boys, but by the turn-of-the 20th century we see both boys and girls wearing them. In the early 20th century we note cloth leggings which gradually replaced leather. We note clothing leggings which matched coats. We see them into the 1940s, but they seem to have gone out of style in the 1950s. We're not sure why. This as far as we can tell was a garment worn by children from wealthy or at least affluent families. They became more midle class in the 1930s and 40s.

Created: 9:25 PM 2/20/2008
Last updated: 11:55 PM 3/9/2008