Figure 1.--This advertisement for children'd full-length stockings appeared in the Fall and Winter 1940-41 Sears catalog. This style was marketed for both boys and girls in sizes from 6-10 years.
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Figure 1.--This advertisement for children'd full-length stockings appeared in the Fall and Winter 1940-41 Sears catalog. This style was marketed for both boys and girls in sizes from 6-10 years. |
American mail order catalogs offer a very useful time line on changing fashion trends. American mail order catalogs in 1940 still featured many of the styles of the 1930s. We notice a range of headwear. Flat caps were going out of style and being relaced with caps that had more rounded crowns. We note what were called "helmets" during the witer. Knickers were still worn, but rapidly declining in popularity. Long pants were becoming increasingly common. Younger boys still wore short pants, especially in the summer. Knickers were also still sold. Sears was still offering knicker suits in 1940. Most boys were wearing ankle socks, but kneesocks and even long stockings were still sold.
We notice a range of headwear. Flat caps were going out of style and being relaced with caps that had more rounded crowns. We note what were called "helmets" during the witer. A Wards Fall-Winter 1940-41 catalog headwear page provides details.
Sears was still offering knicker suits in 1940.
Knickers were still worn, but declining in popularity. Long pants were becoming increasingly common. Younger boys still wore short pants, especially in the summer. Knickers were also still sold.
Kneesocks were declining in popularity. Boys increasingly wore ankle socks, both with short and long pants. Some boys still wore long stockings, but this was becoming increasingly less common.
The Sears Fall and Winter catalog for 1940-41 offered long stockings for "children" without specifying boys or girls. The illustration with the ad clearly indicated that they were for both boys and girls. The illustration showed a boy riding a wagon. It was an display for long stockings. The boy wears short pants with his long stockings. The stockings had to be quite long, way above the knee as the shorts are quite short. This was a fairly large display, suggesting that there were still good sales for children's long stockings in 1940. There were three different types of long stockings offered.
Waists had once been worn to support clothing, but by the 1930s and 40s had become mostly garter waists or stocking supporters to hold up long stockings. HBC has used the genenric term "stocking supporters" for these garments. The garter waist is a type of stocking supporter.
Sears garter waist is a device to support long stockings. Sears in its 1940-41 Catalog, Fall and Winter catalog (p. 695) offered garter waists. Sears offered three different styles of garter waist. Interestingly, the models are all for boys (about 8 to 10 years of
age, apparently) although these waists are designed for girls as well as boys. Actually both long stockings and these garter waists in 1940 were more commonly worn by girls, so the illustration is a bit misleading. These styles were on offer at the beginning of World War II in the U.S.
This Wards page offered four different support items: (1) two kinds of suspenders; (2) three kinds
of pin-on hose supporters; (3) two kinds of underwaists; (4) four kinds of garter waists. It is notable that all the children's elastic products are advertised together on the same page. Note that in the
garter waist ads, the children (3 girls and a boy) are all wearing the brief style union suits with short legs and short sleeves. Many of the earlier ads showed these garments being worn with long underwear. This seems to be an indication that long stockings in 1940 were being wornmore for looks and formality than for warmth. It was becoming unpopular to have a lumpy look on the children's legs, which was almost
unavoidable if long stockings were worn on top of long johns.
We have some information on garter waists in 1940. We note companies beginning to market new stules of underwear in 1940. One example is Mussingwear. We also notice the use of grip snap fastners on underwear. This is the ealiest use we have noticed, although the snap fastners may have actually appeared earlier. The A. Stein Company whixh produced support garments like waists and stocking supporters also offered a shoulder brace.
Here we see an advertisement for children's shoes. Buster Brown Shoes were one of the best known brand names. One that is still important in the United States. This
appeared in Parents Magazine (October, 1940, p. 86). Notice the schoolboy's clothes--peaked cap, striped polo shirt, belted dark shorts, and striped knee socks, plus, of course, the Buster Brown leather shoes.
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