With the rising popularity of kneepants in the 1860s, more and more boys began wearing long stockings. This created the problem of how to keep them up. Originally stocking supporters had been suspended from vest-like
underwaists (also called "pantywaists"), sleeveless bodice-like
undergarments, worn by both girls and boys, which had buttons for
attaching the garters and other clothing such as underpants, skirts and
trousers. This style of garment eventually developed by the first decade of
the 20th century to provide special tape loops, eyeleted tabs, or metal
pinning-tubes for attaching the supporters by means of safety pins. A more popular approach for older boys became the over the shoulder suspender waists or stocking suporters.
Originally stocking supporters had been suspended from vest-like
underwaists (also called "pantywaists"), sleeveless bodice-like
undergarments, worn by both girls and boys, which had buttons for
attaching the garters and other clothing such as underpants, skirts and
trousers. This style of garment eventually developed by the first decade of
the 20th century to provide special tape loops, eyeleted tabs, or metal
pinning-tubes for attaching the supporters by means of safety pins. But
these "pantywaists" (as they were sometimes called in common parlance
although usually not by the manufacturers or advertisers) proved most
suitable for younger boys up to about age 8, and although they continued
to be manufactured for children up through about age 12 or 13, were
hated by older boys as effeminate and juvenile.
At this point various kinds of suspender waists began to replace the bodice-like underwaist or "pantywaist" for boys, and various models such as the Wilson, Sampson, and Kazoo suspender waists were widely sold as alternatives to hose supporters supported only from the waist. See HBC pages suspender waists and stocking supporter types. The new models appealed to boys because they were more athletic, more masculine, and more grown-up. The strain of the garters was carried by over-the-shoulder straps like adult suspenders for trousers such as boys' fathers usually wore, and the new suspender waists often had attachments for both trousers and stockings so that the waists served a dual purpose. Several advertisements for the Kazoo model that appeared in Good Housekeeping magazine, for instance, encouraged mothers to buy the new type of suspender waist for their growing sons so as not to embarrass them by keeping them too long in old-style "feminine underwaists" as a means of supporting their long stockings.
Fairly early in the evolution of shoulder-style hose supporters for children (both boys and girls) was a skeleton waist or harness-like arrangement invented and widely endorsed by one Dr. Parker. No one seems to know who this physician actually was, but he gave his name to a style of hose supporter that sold widely in North America for about 40 years. He seems to have been a pediatrician, probably from Boston or New York, who interested himself in children's health and wished to contribute to the comfort and well-being of developing juvenile and adolescent young bodies. His garment, which was sold by the three major catalogs in Canada and the United States (Eatons in Canada, Montgomery Ward and Sears Roebuck in the U.S.) consisted of a waist band with buttons for the attachment of additional clothing, suspender-like shoulder straps to carry the strain of garters and a cross-strap across the chest to keep the shoulder straps from slipping off during the strenuous play to which children are given. Elastic Y-shaped hose supporters were attached to each side of the waist band descending over the hips to hold up the stockings. The intention was to provide a means of supporting long stockings that would not restrict athletic activity, that would be lighter in weight than the bodice-style vests that very young children continued to wear, that would not cause the child to stoop over as garters supported only at the waist tended to do, and that would also serve as a kind of shoulder brace to keep the body erect and encourage good posture. Eaton's and Montgomery Ward often labeled these garter waists the "Dr. Parker's Waist" while Sears sold a very close imitation of the garment as "Kern's Child's Waist."
We note two different types of these suspender garments. The Samson suspender waist seen here are a combination garment. The waist was to hold up the boy's trousers, but there were also hose supporters. The Kazoo ad, which has both girls and boys wearing suspender waists, illustrates a point that I think needs to be clarified. The suspender waists for older boys are designed with attachments for trousers. This model was not for
girls who did not wear suspenders to hold up skirts. The Samson model is ONLY for boys and therefore makes no mention of girls at all. The Kazoo suspender waists were made (in different models) for both boys and girls, but the girls' models did not have leather attachments at the waist like those for the older boys (figure 1). The Kazoo advertisement makes this difference quite clear. The Kazoo models for girls and younger boys had buttons around the waist which could be used for other clothing--possibly skirts or knee pants--but I think
they were mainly for panties, bloomers, etc. and functioned pretty much like panty waists. Only older boys wore the type of suspender waist with leather attachments at the waist for trousers. And of course the term "panty waist" was applied only to boys--that is, older boys who had not yet graduated to the type of waist with leather trouser-suspender
fixtures at the waist that looked more like what their fathers wore. Note that there different styles of Kazoo stocking supporters. Note here we see Kazoo styles A, B, and G (figure 1). It is dificult to tell, however, what the differencesin the three styles were.
Related Hosiery Pages:
[Return to the Main over-the-shoulder stocking supporters page]
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