Figure 1.--Larken offered this military-styled shorts set in 1937. Notice that the blouse buttons ata slant. It was for b oys 5-8 yeears old.

HBC notes that sets of shirts and pants styled rather like regular garments appeared in the 1930s. Often they had self-belts. This was very common n America. We are less sure with Europe. We see these into the 40s, but not with the large white buttons that we saw wih the Oliver Twist suits. They were made with both long and short pants. Button-on sets were more commonly shorts sets, but HBC has noted longs as well. Knicker were less common. They were often made for play, but also worn to school. They were comonly called wash suits because they were easly laundered. All the major mail order companies had a selections of these outfits. Sears and Wards always had a good selection, but they were offered by other companies as well. Larken offered a military-styled button on suit for boys 5-8 years of age. Many photographs of younger boys at school show them wearing button-on styles. A good example is nursery school in 1934. Button on-styles were also worn by the younger boys in primary grades. An English reader writes, "I am only aware of buttoning on pants being used with boys just out of babyhood. I have one photo of me like that in the very early 1930s and nothing after that in my experience."

Created: March 3, 2002
Last updated: 1:20 PM 10/19/2015