Figure 1.--Some younger boys dressed up with short pants in the 1920s. This boy's name was Allan. He was age 5 1/2 in February 1928. This is a studio portrait with a postcard back. Many American boys wore short pants with kneesocks in the 1920s.

The age conventions in America concening short pants have varied over time. There were regional, seasonal, and social class differents that affected the age of boys wearing short pants. Short pants first appeared in the 1920s and the age associations were different from Europe where even teenagers often wore short pants. Earlier knee pants age conventions were similar to Europe. American boys mostly wore knickers in the 1920s. We do see pre-school boys wearing shorts and some younger primary school boys wearing shorts. oys in the South were more likely to wear shorts and we see older boys there wearing shorts. Shorts were also more common in the summer and we sometimes see younger teenagers wearing them. Shorts were both worn for dresswear as well as play wear. Short pants were most common with boys from affluent familiesm especially families that had British or other European connections. We still see primary school boys wearing short pants in the early-1940s. We rarely see beven grade-school boys wearing shorts to school in the late-40s and 50s. We are not sure why this occurred. We note college boys wearing Bermuda shorts in the 1950s. This fashion filtered down to younger boys in the 60s. We begin to see more boys wearing short pants in the 1970s and boys of all ages. A factore here was both nasketball and soccer. Short pants became primarily worn as athletic wear or casual summer wear. The age associations with short pants largely disappeared, although younger boys might wear shorts for dressy occasions during the summer.

Created: 1:35 AM 4/22/2010
Last updated: 1:35 AM 4/22/2010