Figure 1.--This British family snapshot shows three unidentified children 3-7 years of age in their back garden (yard). The two boys are weearing short pants. The photograph was taken in Septembrer 1922. The 1920s was the first decade that we see large nunbers of boys wearing short pants rather than knee pants.

It was in the 1920s that short pants became common. They tended tobe rather long, but began tio become shorter as the dcade progressed. The The chronological trends in shorts varied widely from country to country. They were widely worn by European boys after World War I (1914-18), but not nearly as popular in America. Until this European and American boys wore many of the same clothing styles. Some American boys in the 1920s wore short pants, but mostly younger boys (figure 1). Knickers were much more common, but for the first time we see Amerivan boyys wearing shorts. Shorts were much more common in Europe. This was the case throughout Europe, except for the more backward countries where traditional clothing styles continued to be worn in rural areas. In America we see a related development. Shjorts were not as common in rural areras than the cities. Overalls dominated boys' wear in rural areas. Not only did more European boys wear shorts, but older boys commonlyb wotre them. Socuial cklass was a factor in Amerticva, lss so in Eutrope. Even the American Boy Scouts did not commonly wear shorts, but this was unusual. Most Scouts as the movement spread around the world (but primarily in Europe) wore shorts. Geography was a factor with shorts being more common in southern than northern Europe. But even in northern Europe we see shorts, often worn with long stockings during the winter.

Created: 7:24 PM 1/6/2024
Last updated: 7:25 PM 1/6/2024