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Long stockings continued to be very widely worn in the 1930s. While we see older boys mostly wearing knee socks, the photographic record clearly shows tht long stockings continued to be very common, especilly in German n Eastern Europe. American boys also worethem, but mostly younger boys. We continue to see evidence of both ribbed and flat-weave hosiery during the 1930s. The flat weave stockings seem much more common, but here photographs we believe may not show the ribbing in many instances.
We are not sure if boys or girls had preferences concerning ribbed and flat-weave stickings. The younger boys probably did not notice, but older children certainly did. An Amercan Fashion Service illustration from the early part of the decade shows boys wearing ribbed long stockings with knickers suits and ribbed knee socks with short trousers. The ribbing gives a sporty look that boys probably liked, and the ribbed long stockings seem to complement the corduroy knickers of the period. The two identically dressed Barad twins, American boys, are dressed in nicely fitting ribbed brown long stockings (1931). The boys may have preferred ribbed stockings to plainer-weave ones.
While warmth may have been the primary reason for wearing long stockings, it was certainly not the only reason. Special occassions like First Communion ceremonies often necessitated long stockings. And generally this meant the finer grade of stockings, often sheer, smooth weave stockings. A group of Canadian boys in Halifax, Nova Scotia (taken in 1930), shows the various kind of clothing that boys wore for the ceremony. The variety here is notable. Most of the boys wear short trousers suits, a few with knee socks; and at least one boy wears long trousers. But most of the lads wear long stockings of various colors—brown, beige, light tan, and white. One boy with a sailor suit seems to wear black stockings. Northeastern Canada remained very conservative as regards boys’ dress.
We have an image of a German boy in 1938 playing on the floor with his electric train. He wears unusual ribbed long stockings with a pattern that gives a texture that we don’t see very often.
Smooth-textured long stockings continued to be somewhat more popular than ribbed stockings if we can trust the photographic evidence. This is probably because plain-weave, form-fitting stockings were considered most appropriate for formal occasions, at least in the United States, and more and more, we associate long stockings with formality rather than with winter protection of young knees. A German photo, probably from the later part of the decade, shows a boy and girl sharing a book. The boy wears short trousers with socks (probably knee socks) whereas the girl wears very smooth brown long stockings. Boys also, of course, wore the same kind of long stockings, but knee socks increasingly were an acceptable alternative.
A German school class (also from the early 1930s) shows the commonness of plain-weave long stockings worn with short trousers for schoolboys. But long stockings, although common, were only one option. Just as many of the boys wear knee socks with their shorts. Although of fine-gauge and not obviously ribbed, some of these stockings seem fairly heavy. German boys wore both cotton and woolen stockings during the 1930s, and sometimes stockings of mixed cotton and woolen yarn.
Another good example of German school clothes appears in a 1930s group of primary-age schoolboys, all of whom seem to be wearing plain-weave stockings. Most seem to be various shades of brown, but note the boy on the right (front row) whose stockings seem to be beige.
A 1930s postcard image (1930s) shows a rather idealized German schoolboy wearing elegantly smooth long stockings (presumably brown) with old-fashioned knee pants (note the length and the ornamental buttons). Although perhaps a bit prettified and sentimentalized for commercial advantage, this costume seems to reflect what many actual German schoolboys really wore to school.
The principle of propriety seems to apply to an Easter portrait (1930s) of four German children, shown in a garden. All the children, including boys of about 10 and 12 years, wear smoothly woven but nevertheless woolen-textured long stockings with long-sleeved, collared sweaters. Of course April can be quite chilly in Germany, so these stockings are no doubt partly worn for warmth as well as tradition.
We note boys in many different countries wearing long stockings in a variety of weaves. . The flat-weave stockings were the most common, but we see boys wearing ribbed stockings in several countries as well. The photographic record shows that long stockings were particularly common in Germany. This is no doubt true, but they were just as common if not more so in countries like Poland and Russia, it is just that there are more images available from Germany.
A young Austrian Jewish boy during the early 1930s poses with his mother in Vienna before the Nazis took over the country. This boy wears beige, almost white, long stockings with quite brief short pants. Note the extreme length necessary to accommodate the increasingly shorter trousers of the 1930s as well as the smooth-textured, dressy weave.
A photo of Israel Baruch in 1932 Bulgaria shows the standard plain-weave light tan long stockings worn with shorts.
Ribbed long stockings were apparently very popular in Canada. The 1939-40 Eaton’s catalog shows dark brown ribbed stockings for Canadian boys and girls. Many Canadian boys preferred short trousers to knickers (especially in more conservative areas such as Quebec), and wore long stockings to protect their knees in the chillier moths. Note the dark colors.
Also in 1934 we note two Estonian Boy Scouts wearing smoothly fitting brown long stockings with their uniforms in place of knee socks. Estonian fashion in boys’ clothing seems to have strongly influenced by German.
During the 1930s we note a German boy with his mother wearing a tweed short pants suit with ribbed beige stockings. This suit is somewhat more informal than most short pants suits of the period. Note the darning on the knee of one stockings.
At some point during the mid-1930s (probably about 1935) a German boy in a Bavarian-style short pants suit was photographed. Note that he wears ribbed dark brown long stockings under his short trousers, presenting a pleasantly masculine, even somewhat rugged, effect. The commonness of smooth long stockings in Germany, worn with shorts, is well illustrated by a photo of approximately 1930 in which two boys are playing on the floor with their toy railroad. One boy wears brown stockings while the other one wears beige, both popular colors. Because of the close fit, these are probably cotton stockings of fine- gauge ribbing that nevertheless give the appearance of smooth weave.
Another German example (also 1930) shows a boy on his father’s knee being read to out of a book. The boy wears the classic sailor suit with dark tan or brown long stockings tautly gartered. Note the smooth appearance—an indication that the weave is of fine-gauge ribbing with a bit of sheen. A further example (1930), again featuring sailor suits, shows a German brother and sister in coordinated outfits in a garden. Both are wearing long white, smoothly textured and dressy long stockings.
A 1937 photo of the distinguished educator and librarian, Vartan Gregorian, shows the boy wearing strangely short, ribbed long stockings as a boy in Iran. Note the exposed and rather heavy hose supporter.
A photograph of a Dutch family, taken sometime during the decade, shows an older teenager, perhaps as old 16, wearing a dark suit and tie with short trousers and very smoothly fitting black long stockings. Most Dutch boys of this age seem to have worn either knickers or long trousers, but the family apparently preferred long stockings and shorts for reasons of formality. Interestingly, the season was summer (note the foliage and white dress with ankle socks worn by the girl), so it is clear that the long stockings were not adopted for reasons of warmth.
Note also three Russian boys during the 1930s who wear smoothly textured beige and brown long stockings with short trousers.
Tan long stockings were also commonly worn with short trousers by American schoolboys in the 1930s. Note this example in an primary school, where we see an American boy wearing tan stockings with a white shirt and a sailor hat. Since he is sitting down, you can see his supporters showing between the top of the stockings and the hem of the trousers ( Fig. 3). Other exposures on this page show boys wearing black stockings as well as tan. The sailor hats seem to represent a nautical motif that was being stressed on the day the photographer was present.
We note an American girl wearing tan or light brown long stockings with a print dress. The same style of smooth-textured stockings were worn also by boys, but they were perhaps more favored by girls.
The most common weave was a fkat weave, but ribbed stockings were also common. We see lesser anounts of other weaves. About 1930 we observe a different German boy in rather curiously textured but non- ribbed long stockings with a top turnover design. These stockings look as if they were longer versions of knee socks and seem to highly unusual. They obviously have to be worn with round garters rather than supporters attached to a Leibchen. The somewhat mottled texture looks as though it were of woolen knit.
A German boy by the name of Eckard wore very smooth beige long stockings with his short pants outfit for his first day of school in the 1930s. Again, note the extremely fine gauge of the knit. Beige and tan shades, as well as darker shades of brown and black, were becoming very common in both Europe and America.
Period mail order castalogs provide a great deal of useful information. A 1930 Sears ad for boys’ socks and stockings (1930) offers both “fine gauge” and “ribbed” stockings for both genders. But the brand of stockings is called “Boyville,” indicating the primary sales target. Both the fine ribbed and wider ribbed stockings seem to be equally popular. A 1930 Wards ad for boys and girls’ long stockings the same year (1930) shows different widths of ribbing. In one of the illustrations on this page the boy wears the wider ribbed stockings whereas the girl wears a narrower rib. But this distinction does not hold throughout the line. Boys and girls wore ribbing of all widths and even very fine-gauge knit stockings for dress-up occasions. Note that these stockings seem to be worn mainly with knee pants (note the ornamental buttons) of quite short length. The shortness of the pants, however, could simply be a means of displaying the length of the stockings to better advantage. Although several colors are for sale, black seems to dominate. A 1931 Sears advertisement (Summer and Spring, 1931) offers both ribbed and “fine gauge” hosiery for children, but the fine gauge is touted as the “best seller.” Some of the ribbed models seem to be of heavier and more durable weight. Note the “rayon plating” on one of the examples. This was in the Spring-Summer cata;og showing that ribbing was not exclusively for winter wear. We note a 1933 Wards ad (Spring and Summer catalog) advertising “Extra Long Playhard” stockings in both “fine rib” and “Derby rib” style. No gender distinction is implied, but the longer length of these stockings is featured prominently—an obvious appeal to mothers and children who didn’t want hose supporters peeping out from beneath the shorter trousers and skirts then in fashion. The advertisements from Montgomery Wards during the mid- 1930s show the variety of textures in which long stockings for both boys and girls were manufactured. The Wards 1935 Fall/Winter catalog offers ribbed, plain knit, heather mixture, and rayon plated long stockings. Although the rayon plated stockings appealed particularly to girls, they were also worn by boys for especially formal or dressy occasions. Notice the doubly reinforced knees in one of the insert illustrations, a style particularly aimed at boys who were likely to be hard on long stockings in play. Ribbing to the toe is emphasized, indicating that all the stockings on offer here are very form-fitting and won’t bag or fit loosely about the ankle. A Wards 1936-37 ad shows most of the same features—ribbing to the toe in hosiery of both fine gauge and wider ribs, All these stockings are ribbed, but so finely that they look smooth and dressy. Again we have rayon plated stockings (rayon over cotton) for dress-up occasions. We note a rather unusual style of long stockings in a 1939-40 Sears catalog. These are combination stockings that are plainly textured flesh-color above the knees but that have a three-quarters or knee-sock appearance below the knee. Both Sears and Wards sold such stockings, obviously attempting a compromise between boys and girls who wanted a knee-socks look and mothers who insisted on the protection of full-length stockings in the cooler seasons. As the illustration makes plain, these combination long stockings had to be worn with supporters. They do not seem to have caught on very well because the style quickly disappeared. Important here, of course, was the very smooth texture and light beige of the upper leg of the stocking to imitate the exposed leg. But except for the ornamental cuffs, the lower and darkly colored part of the stockings seems also to be of smooth weave.
We believed that older boys prederred the ribbed stockings. I am not entirely sure why, perhaps because they looked less like women's hosiery. By the 1930s, however, few older boys wore long stockings. We see some younger boys wearing the ribbed stocvlings. A Darvey family portrait of 1931 shows the youngest boy wearing a light-weight short trousers suit with ribbed black long stockings. These stockings seem to be rather heavy for the light-colored suit. The boy is quite dressed up. Note the striped necktie.
Another German photo (1939) shows Hans J at age 4 wearing very long ribbed stockings with his dress-up clothes at the age of 4. He lived near Stuttgart. These stockings seem to be very dark brown. Hans has given us aninteresting account of his childhood clothes at various stages of his boyhood.
We comtinue to see boys wearing long stockings with short trousers in the 1930s. The style of long stockings with short trousers continued throughout the decade in both Germany and America. We note a 1931 picture of a German schoolboy (about 12 or 13) in a coat sweater, dark gray short pants, and plain black long stockings. The next year (1932) we see the typical German First Communion clothing-—a dark short pants suit, white shirt (with formal wing collar and bow tie), and smoothly fitting black long stockings. In 1933, we have a class of American school children, probably from about the second grade. Most of the boys wear short pants and white collared shirts with neckties. Some of the boys appear to wear knee socks, but at least one boy wears the more conservative tan long stockings with supporters. Note that the stockings are not long enough to cover the entire leg, and that the garter is plainly visible on one leg (see Fig. 2). The problem of garters showing seems to have been a particularly American experience. The German boys seem to have worn stockings long enough to avoid this embarrassment.
A well-dressed < href="/country/ger/gar/head/beret/gb-chron.html">German boy in 1933 wears his sailor suit with a beret and smoothly textured long black stockings.
Two 1934 photographs from the Hermdorf School in Germany show the virtual ubiquity of short pants worn with long stockings. The younger boys wear mostly brown or tan hosiery with their short pants (a few boys have knee socks). And the same style of smooth woven stockings, black or tan, continues into the class with older boys--boys whose ages go up to at least 14.
An American example from the same year (1934) shows a blind boy at the famous Perkins School for the blind being treated by means of hearing apparatus. Again we have the standard beige long stockings of fine gauge or plain cotton weave worn with hose supporters that are exposed when the boy is sitting down.
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We note American Catholic boys from an unidentified school in the mid-1930s wearing white long stockings with white shirts and short pants for their First Communion ceremony. The white long stockings were of course traditional in Catholic schools for reasons of formality. Note that the boys wear black shoes rather than white ones, The stockings are naturally of the most formal, fine-gauge cotton, perhaps mixed with rayon yarns..
HYPERLINK "http://histclo.com/act/rel/event/comf/cou/us/chron/iw/ic/fc-ucs30x01.html" http://histclo.com/act/rel/event/comf/cou/us/chron/iw/ic/fc-ucs30x01.html
A boy or about 6 or 7 from Pittsburgh was photographed in 1935-36 wearing a dressy outfit of shirt and tie, sleeveless sweater, short pants, and long woolen stockings of beige or light tan. These stockings seem to be of fairly heavy texture (perhaps a mixture of wool and cotton) but are not obviously ribbed. Note the hint of hose supporter showing on the upper thigh.
HYPERLINK "http://histclo.com/country/us/pe/1930/cous-pe3001c.html" http://histclo.com/country/us/pe/1930/cous-pe3001c.html
Czech boys dressed for First Communion in ways very similar to German boys. In 1935 Jaroslav Valdman is seen wearing a neatly tailored double breasted suit with open collar and long brown stockings. He seems to be about ten or eleven. Most German boys wore black stockings for religious ceremonies, but smoothly textured brown was probably acceptable in some situations.
HYPERLINK "http://histclo.com/country/other/czech/act/ca-rel.html" http://histclo.com/country/other/czech/act/ca-rel.html
We see a group of Lithuanian Jewish children in 1935 all wearing the standard plain-weave stockings of the period. The boy in the sailor suit wears black stockings while another boy wears light brown or tan stockings. Note the white stockings worn by the girl.
HYPERLINK "http://histclo.com/essay/war/ww2/hol/holc-lit.html" http://histclo.com/essay/war/ww2/hol/holc-lit.html
A fashionable Czech portrait of the two Muller children (1935) shows both the boy and the girl wearing very smoothly textured, plain-weave long stockings with quite short clothes. The boy wears beige stockings whereas the girl seems to be wearing white.
HYPERLINK "http://histclo.com/country/other/czech/fam/czf-muller30.html" http://histclo.com/country/other/czech/fam/czf-muller30.html
In the second half of the decade the trend for wearing short pants with long stockings continued, although in the United States the fashion tended to be reserved for younger boys. In Europe the fashion extended also to older boys. In 1936 we see the two Holland brothers who are wearing plain beige stockings with their short pants although we can only see the legs of the younger child. Again notice the plain weave of the stockings and the fasteners of the supporters visible in the sitting position. This was a common middle-class style in Boston.
HYPERLINK "http://histclo.com/bio/op/h/bop-holldr.html" http://histclo.com/bio/op/h/bop-holldr.html
The smoothness of texture that was typical shows up plainly in a 1936-37 Sears ad for long stockings. These stockings are fairly light-weight and fine-textured for dressy wear even though they are being promoted in a Fall and Winter catalog. One of the styles features “rayon plating,” a mixture of yarns designed to give a certain sheen to long stockings and that mothers liked for dress-up occasions. Girls of course liked them also because they were closer to the hosiery their mothers wore, but rayon plated hosiery was not restricted to girls. One of the interesting details of this ad is that the boy model is shown wearing knickers rather than short pants. Long stockings were often worn with knickers also when mothers wanted a dressier look than could be had with patterned knee socks. In addition knee socks tended to fall down, whereas long stockings, worn with supporters, stayed neatly in place.
HYPERLINK "http://histclo.com/fashion/store/mail/cou/us/chron/930/36/s36hos.html" http://histclo.com/fashion/store/mail/cou/us/chron/930/36/s36hos.html
A 1937 photo of a Blankenburg Gymnasium class (a German secondary school) shows boys wearing their Hitler Youth uniforms. Most of the boys wear knee socks, which was the standard custom, but one boy wears brown long stockings with his uniform—a holdover, apparently, from his ordinary street dress. The plain texture seems ordinary..
HYPERLINK "http://histclo.com/schun/country/ger/era/tr/lev/sec/ned-lsec01.html" http://histclo.com/schun/country/ger/era/tr/lev/sec/ned-lsec01.html
A large family from Illinois by the name of Saunders (the photo was taken in 1937) shows a good cross section of middle-class dress in the late 1930s. Note the younger boy with short trousers and fine-gauge beige long stockings (again with the hose supporters visible in the sitting position).
HYPERLINK "http://histclo.com/country/us/fam/1930/usf-1937s.html" http://histclo.com/country/us/fam/1930/usf-1937s.html
In continental Europe long stockings worn with shorts were very common in the later 1930s. We even see them in Italy, although knee socks were much more common. One reason for the smooth-weave long stockings in this school photo taken in Monferrato (northern Italy) in 1938 is the Fascist Balilla youth-group uniforms that featured long stockings. A few of the boy wear knee socks, but brown, tan, or even black long stockings (smooth-textured) were apparently part of the uniform, and most mothers obliged.
HYPERLINK "http://histclo.com/schun/country/it/chron/20/1930/is-ozz38.html" http://histclo.com/schun/country/it/chron/20/1930/is-ozz38.html
A different uniform featuring dressy long stockings was that worn for funerals by a well-known Jewish orphanage in Holland. We see one such procession in 1938. Under the long overcoats we can’t see the trousers, but they were undoubtedly knee pans or shorts.
HYPERLINK "http://histclo.com/country/neth/min/dm-jew.html" http://histclo.com/country/neth/min/dm-jew.html
In the Jewish ghetto of Berlin (1938) we see a boy being fitted for shoes. Note the plain brown and very long stockings which were standard boys’ wear of the period. A slightly older boy in the same shop wears knee socks. Both styles were equally common for boys of different ages.
HYPERLINK "http://histclo.com/essay/war/ww2/hol/ger/hg-shop.html" http://histclo.com/essay/war/ww2/hol/ger/hg-shop.html
German middle-class families often dressed their sons in short trousers with long, plain-weave brown long stockings. This photo from the late 1930s shows a boy in one of the popular sailor suits with such stockings.
HYPERLINK "http://histclo.com/country/ger/fam/cg-fam3001.html" http://histclo.com/country/ger/fam/cg-fam3001.html
The Heim family, another German family, outfitted all three of their sons in identical H-bar shorts in 1939. The same style of plain-weave brown long stockings provides the appropriately formal accompaniment.
HYPERLINK "http://histclo.com/country/ger/fam/cg-fam01mc.html" http://histclo.com/country/ger/fam/cg-fam01mc.html
Almost all American dry goods stores in the late 1930s carried the long beige cotton stockings that had become so popular. These vintage Buster Brown cotton stockings, made in sizes large enough to fit boys and girls of 12 or 13 years, illustrate the dressy, fine-gauge texture that many mothers wanted. Note the additional length made to avoid the problem of garters showing beneath the briefer short pants and skirts then in vogue. The slightly pinkish tone of these stockings seems designed to approximate flesh color..
HYPERLINK "http://histclo.com/react/vin/gar/hos/vgh-bbls01.html" http://histclo.com/react/vin/gar/hos/vgh-bbls01.html
But darker stockings were also being worn by American children. This color photo of a farm girl in finely textured brown long stockings gives a good idea of one of the colors available. Manufacturers had finally caught on to the desirability of knitting children’s stockings in longer lengths. Here, for instance, the necessary hose supporters do not show.
HYPERLINK "http://histclo.com/style/foot/stock/nat/us/color/chron/20/1930/als30s-brown.html" http://histclo.com/style/foot/stock/nat/us/color/chron/20/1930/als30s-brown.html
By 1939-40 the standard cotton for boys’ and girls’ long stockings had become scarce in Germany owing to the war. German manufacturers attempted to solve the problem by manufacturing stockings with various kinds of synthetic yarns. These “Netco” brand stockings illustrate not only the newer fabric but also the smooth texture and available colors. The dark brown and beige colors were already common, but note the new olive or greenish shade that may have had something to do with the military uniforms then so visible.
HYPERLINK "http://histclo.com/fashion/store/mail/cou/ger/chron/930/39/ls39-hetko.html" http://histclo.com/fashion/store/mail/cou/ger/chron/930/39/ls39-hetko.html
The extreme length of European long stockings, covering the entire thigh almost like tights, shows up in this photograph of a young Swiss boy in long white stockings, Again the preferred texture is very smooth unlike many of the white knee socks that boys wore with native costumes, youth uniforms, and hiking shorts. Note the girl’s knee socks, which seem to be ribbed.
HYPERLINK "http://histclo.com/country/swi/pe/tom/tom-fam.html" http://histclo.com/country/swi/pe/tom/tom-fam.html
A harrowing photograph of a Jewish girl being subjected to Third Reich identification procedures in 1938-39 has the incidental value of illustrating the commonly worn smoothly textured cotton long stockings commonly worn by both boys and girls in Germany. Notice the length of the girl’s stockings.
HYPERLINK "http://histclo.com/essay/war/ww2/hol/ger/hg-id.html" http://histclo.com/essay/war/ww2/hol/ger/hg-id.html
Two Sears ads for American garter waists in 1939 show boys wearing fine-gauge tan cotton stockings
HYPERLINK "http://histclo.com/style/under/gar/sup/ug-gw.html" http://histclo.com/style/under/gar/sup/ug-gw.html
and also black stockings
HYPERLINK "http://histclo.com/fashion/store/mail/cou/us/chron/930/39/s39-gw.html" http://histclo.com/fashion/store/mail/cou/us/chron/930/39/s39-gw.html
A color placard for the widely sold Hickory garter waists also shows very smoothly textured long stockings, tan or beige, about 1937-38.
HYPERLINK "http://histclo.com/style/under/gar/ug-cats01.html" http://histclo.com/style/under/gar/ug-cats01.html
Teddy Kennedy at about age 7 or 8 is seen wearing a dark short pants suit with black long stockings for a Papal audience with his family in Rome in 1939. Vatican protocols of the period required children’s knees to be covered, black or white long stockings with short trousers being standard. Fine-gauge stockings were of course appropriate.
HYPERLINK "http://histclo.com/pres/ind20/jfk/jfk-ww2.html" http://histclo.com/pres/ind20/jfk/jfk-ww2.html
HBC has an interesting photo (dated 1935) of a New York boy wearing rather soiled beige stockings with obvious ribbing. He is relaxing on a somewhat cluttered fire escape and probably comes from a rather hard-up family. The ribbed stockings may have been chosen by his mother for their sturdiness.
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