*** short pants : individual country trends








Short Pants/Trousers: Individual Country Trends

English school shorts
Figure 1.--British schoolboys in the 20th century commonly wore short trouser school uniform. These boys in the prep division attended a private London day school during the 1980s. A HBC reader attended the school in the 1970s.

Conventions for wearing short pants varied greatly from country to country since they were introduced for boys in turn of the Century England. They rapidly became popular in Europe. Short pants were widely worn in England, France, Germany, Italy and many other European countries. Knee pants were already very common. A factor with the popularity of short pants was the rapidly expanding Boy Scout movement. Shorts were not popular every where. Most American, boys, except for the youngest didn't really like them and most American boys, even Scouts, wore knickers instead. They were widely, however, in most countries even outside Europe, with a few exceptions. They were not popular in Latin America or in countries like Russia with cold climates. They were continued to widely worn in Europe until well after World War II. As shorts declined in popularity in many European countries, they became increasingly popular in America, but as warm weather casual clothing and not as a part of a suit or other dressy outfit. We have a great deal of information on some countries, but know very little about many other countries.

Africa


America, Latin


Argentina


America, North


America

American boys did not commonly wear the short pants that became widely accepted in England and Europe, especially in the years after the 1920s. American boys much prefered knickers. Some American boys, however, did wear shorts. They were acceptable for little boys, especially before they began school. They were also more accepted in the southern states and California where the weather was warmer--especially during the summer. Notably, even in the South, shorts were not commonly worn in rural areas. Short pants were also worn by boys from wealthy families more intuned with European fashions and able to send their boys to private schools, some of which required short pants uniforms. Families from European immigrant families were also more likely to dress their boys in shorts. This began to change in the 1960s when short pants as casual wear became increasingly accepted. The introduction of cutoffs and the increasing popularity of soccer and bnasketball (sports with short pants uniforms) were important factors. American boys by the 1980s commonly wore shorts as casual wear, elementary boys would even wear them to school. Quite short styles were popular. Styles began to change in the early 1990s as influenced by hip-hop fashions, shorts begame long and baggy.

Canada

Pre-teen boys from affluent families often wore short pants. I'm less sure about French-Canadian boys who often came from low-income families. Boys that wore short pants commonly wore them with kneesocks or even long stockings. Modern Canadian fashions are today little different than American fashions, although the summer clothesm especially short pants, are somewhat less common because of the climate. We note the same stule shorts as worn in Britain during the 1920s and 30s, but after World War II American styles become increasingly popular. As in America and Britain we rarely see Canadian boys wearing Lederhosen

Asia


Japan

Japanese boys stated wearing short pants about the 1920s. They were generally longer shorts worn at knee length. This style continued until the 1950s when much shorter shorts became fashionable. Japanese elementary-age children wore short shorts for play and dress wear through the 1980s. The short shorts were also adopted as school uniforms. Upon leaving elementary school at 12 , however, boys stpped wearing short pants. Until recently the one Japanese teen agers wearing shorts were Scouts. The Scout year round shorts uniform was changed in 1990 to optional summer wear. Older Japanese boys have begun wearing shorts in the 1990s, but the new long baggy style favored by American boys.

Europe


Belgium

Belgian boys mostly wore kneepants in the late 19th century, but short pants became more common by the 1910s, and were mostly worn by Belgian boys after World War I. It is often difficult to identify the two as the first short pants were quite long. Belgian boys also common wore short pants. The growingbpopularity of the Boy Scout movement was probably a factor here. Short pants at the times were a boys' garment. By the 1930s, a girl might wear shorts for sport or at the seaside, but they remained primarily a boy's garment through the 1950s. The cut of girls' shorts were not the same as the short pants worn by boys. Kneepants had been worn with both short socks and long stockings. Boys in the 1920s and 30s commonly wore short pants with kneesocks. Shorts were very commonly worn by Belgian boys through the 1950s. Boys of all ages wore them, including most younger teen agers. Even some older teemagers wore shorts. Older boys might wear knickers and long pants. This varied from family to family. Belgium is a very traditional country. Boys in Belgium continued to commonly wear shorts even after other boys in Europe were wearing long pants and jeans. Corduroy appears to have been a popular material. We have not yet developed information on the types of pants worn by Belgian boys. There is a page on suspender shorts.

England

Short pants were first commionly worn in England after the turn of the Century. The emensely popular Boy Scout Movement helped to popularize the new shorts, worn with kneesocks rather than the declining kneepants worn with long stockings. They were commonly worn by English boys through the 1950s, but began to decline in popularity in the 1960s as fewer and younger boys wore short pants suits. The Scouts dropped short pants as part of the school uniform in 1969, although Cubs continued to wear them. By the 1970s they were much less commonly worn, although many schools--especially private preparatory schools and many elementary schools still required them. The changing conventions over short trousers engendered an extensive discussion of the suitability of shorts for boys in the English press. HBC readers should not that the common term for short pants in England is short trousers. "Knickers" has been used in the past, but is no longer used and "short pants" is never used.

France

French boys began wearing short pants in the 1900s and they rapidly replaced the kneepants that boys had been wearing since the mid-19th century. Unlike Europe, knickers continued to be commonly worn. Short pants suits generally had knee-length shorts until the 1930s when shorter cut shorts began to appear for younger boys. Older French boys began wearing the shorter style in the 1940s. A French reader reports that during this period that some mothers believed that the shorter shorts were more fashionable and often a boys's shorts for sunday and holudays were shorter than the ones he wore everyday. Older boys began increasingly to wear long pants in the 1960s, especially after 1968, the Paris student revolt. A new longer style of shorts became fashionable after the mid-1980s. Short pants were widely worn in France as in other European countries. A French contributor reports that it is interesting to demonstrate the popularity of short pants for France boys by the fact that the words "culottes courtes" (short pants) have passed in the daily language to speak of young boys : "Les culottes courtes ont envahi la ville" meaning "young boys invaded town".

Germany

Shorts as in other European countries were widely worn in Germany. As in the rest of Europe there was a natural progression from the kneepants worn in the late 19th century. There were other destinctively German influences. Bavarian folk dress include short leather trousers--the fore runners of lederhosen. Another factor was the Wandervogel--a predecessor of the Boy Scouts in Germany who adopted short trousers for outdoor activities over a decade before Baden Powell adopted them for the Boy Scouts.

Iceland

We have very little information on Iceland at this time. We do note an Icelanding boy wearing a sweater or jacket with short pants and long stockings during World War II.

Italy

Italian boys commonly wore short pants since the early 1900s. The shorts at first were worn at knee length, but began becoming much shorter in the 1930s. Quite old boys wore short pants, even for dress werar with a suit. Short shorts were common through the 1960s. Shorts were still commionly worn in the 1970s, but fewer older boys wore them, especially for dress wear.

(The) Netherlands

The Dutch term for short trousers is "korte broek". Above the knee short pants appeard after the turn of the 20th century and became increasingly common in the 1910s. The major influence here was the English. Dutch boys have worn many different types of shorts. Younger boys might wear button-on styles. Many boys wore suspener shorts. Some Dutch boy wore lederhosen as was popular in neihboring Germany.

Poland


Russia

As in Western and Central Europe, knee pants were commonly worn in Russian cities before World War I. There is aot of similatity with German. And we see Russian boys wearing short pants after World War I. again primarily in the cities. Russia's climate mitigated against short pants being as common as in Western Europe, although many mothers solved this problem by having boys wear shorts with long stockings. Some boys later also wore shorts with tights. Short pants seem to have been at first a garment restricted to the more fashionable cities. Photographs from rural areas in the 1920s and 30s almost always show boys wearing long pants. And after the Stalin's collectivization, we see great poverty in the countryside with children wearing hand-me downs and patched clpthing. And in the cities, working-class boys also wore long pants more commonly than the more affluent families. It was the more fashionable educated elite that was more likely to wear short pants. Such observable social class differences are somewhat surprising in a country presenting itself as classless society. These differences gradually disappeared after World War II a living standards began to impove and children were dressed a little more fashionably, including working-class children. Short pants including a short pants uniform were commonly worn at Soviet Young Pioneer camps by boys through the 1980s. Girls had Jeans became as fashion standard for boys in the 1970s. As in Western Europe, boys now mostly dress up in long pants and wear short panmts as casual attire during the war summer months. We see different kinds of short panrs, including suspender shorts.

Sweden

Swedish boys in the early 20th cebntury like boys in other European countries made the transition from knee pants to short trousers. Knee pants were commonly worn with long stockings. We also see boys wearing short pants with long stockings. Boys wore short pants even during when the weather was cold. A good example is Ingeborg and Holger Agerdal in the 1920s. Gradually it became less common to wear short pants with long stockings. Boyswore short pants that were not much different than knee pants. A good example is Arne Sohlstrom in 1928.

Unknown Countries

We have found many photographs of children for which we cannot identify the country. It is often possible to identify old photographs by country, espcially photographs of children from the major countries. Until after World War II, there wre destinctive styles worn in the major countries. This is nuch less the case today. We see pan-European styles incluenced by American casual styles becoming prevalent in Europe by the 970s. Background with cars, houses, and foligage can also be useful in identifying countries. We will archive images here that we cannot figure out. Perhaps HBC readers can provide insights.







HBC






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Created: March 16, 2000
Last updated: 7:46 PM 9/24/2017