United States Boys' Trousers/Pants: Suspension Features


Figure 1.--Suspenders were still common in the early-20th century before World war I. They buttoned on to buttons on the inside of the waistband. These three unidentified brothers were probanly from Ohio, since the photo was discovered in the state. This could be a Fourth of July portrait since one of boys holds a small American flag and the fact one boy is barefoot suggests it was summer. The barebones studio and the clothing suggests a modest income family to us, but splurging on a store-bought costume suggests that they were not poor. The boys could be a rural area, although store-bought costumes were probably more common in small towns and cities. The boy sitting on the right seems to be wearing a Native American costume, perhaps purchased from Sears. This is why he is wearing long pants. His two siblings wear knee trousers or above-the-knee knickers with black long stockings and hold up their trousers with wide button-on suspenders. Notice the stripe shirt of the boy standing in the rear with a similar necktie necktie. No date was provided on the photograph, but we think around 1910-15, primarily because of the knickers. One boy wears knickers instead of knee trousers, which is why we think the photograph is not earlier than 1910. The oldest boy (standing) seems to be wearing straight-cut knee pants, but it is difficult to tell. We would say that the boys' are about 7-11 years of age.

An importan problem presented by pants/trousers was how to hold them up. This is a special problem for boys, especially younger boys who are slender and do not yet have defined waislines. There were a number of possible sollutions. Various types of pants had features specifically designed for suspension. The most common were buttons for suspenders, button holes for button-on tops, and belt loops. Suspender pants (with the straps permanently sewed on) were not as popular in America as in Europe. An exception was bib-front versions like overalls and bib-front pants for younger boys. Pants had buttons for suspenders, commonly on the inside of the waistband. Clasp were a mid-20th century innovation. Other had button holes that accomodated buttons on button-on jackets and shirts. We note jacket-like tops in the mid-19th century. Shiets and blouses were more common by the turn-of the century. The buttons then appeared on the outside of the pants at the waistband. We are not sure yet when belt loops were first introduced, but we begin to see them commonly after World War I in the 1920s.






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Created: 5:40 PM 8/15/2011
Last updated: 5:40 PM 8/15/2011