Figure 1.--Polish boys still commonly wore long over the knee stockings in the 1950s and early 60s. They were eventually replaced with tights, we think in the late 1960s. This image is from a Polish film, but we have been unable to identify it. Thus we do not know either when the film was being made or the time period it was susposed to represent. We thought the boy here might be wearing tights, but other stills from the film shows the boys wearing long stockings. Hopefully we will eventually be able to identify the film.

Polish boys like German boys wore long stockings well after they went out of style in many other European countries. Polish readers inform HBC that tights were also common. We are not sure when tights first appeared in Poland, but believe it was about 1970. We do know that tights quickly replaced long stockings in the 1970s and that they were worn by both boys and girls. They were widely worn in the 1980s, although we do not know when they first appeared. As in East Germany, they appear to have very quickly replaced long stockings. A Polish source reports that tights were very common in the 1970s, 80s and to a lesser extent the 90s. Polish readers tell us that younger boys still wear tights in Poland, but that older boys don't like to wear them as they are seen as girlish.

The 1950s

Polish boys like German boys wore long stockings well after they went out of style in many other European countries. Tights appeared in the West during the 1950s, but at the time they were still not found behind the Irin Curtin.

The 1960s

Polish children still commonly wore long stockings in the 1960s, at least the early 60s. Tights may have ppeared in the late 60s, but we are not sure. A reader has provided some photographs from a Polish Kindergarten showing the children wearing tights which of course shows that tights appeared in Poland during the 1960s. We are not yt sure just when in the 60s. Nor or we sure what age group beyonf Kinfergarten children that wore them. We are guessing it was roughly the same as the age of children that wore long stockings.

The 1970s

Polish readers inform HBC that tights were commonly worn in Poland during the 1970s. We are not sure, however, just when tights were introduced in Poland. We think it was about 1970, but we are not sure. We do know that tights quickly replaced long stockings in the 1970s and that they were worn by both boys and girls. This appears to have been the same pattern as in East Germany.

The 1980s

Tights were widely worn in Poland during the 1980s.

The 1990s

The popularity of tights during the 1990s declined among boys and their parents. Girls still continued to commonly wear them. A Polish reader tell us that younger boys still wear tights in Poland, but that older boys don't like to wear them as they are seen as girlish. He writes, "Boys in Poland really wear tights in winter (and in colder days in spring or in autumn) only unders long pants. I want to add some new information that I haven seen on your website. Older boys (11-14 years old) replace tights with "long-johns" which are made from the same material but they are unfooted and have a fly. s shows that boys do want warm undergarments during the Winter. Older boys don't want to wear tights because they see them as a typically girlish garment. Younger boys (especially these in kindergarten) rarely have such objections. Freqently in kindergarten boys wear only tights (without pants)."

The 2000s

A Polish reader tells us, "Now in the 21st century, the popularity of tights among boys may be increasing. Children both boys and girls still commonly wear tights in Kindrgartten. I occassionaly see boys playing in tights. I saw a boy playing on the palyground and he wore some shirt and grey tights. It was spring and the boy was 7, maybe 8 years old. That is not very common. And it is difficult to know just how popular tights are as so many boys wear long pants. I do know that some boys wear tights under short pants during gymnastic lessons." You can see boys wearing tights in advertisments for children's tights, although girls are features much more prominantly. A good example is Gatta, a major company in Poland. We also noted a Polish film, entitled Uwaga!" by Twojej Sprawie, where a boy wears tights with pants. I don't know much more about the film.

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Created: 5:34 PM 3/12/2007
Last updated: 6:21 PM 3/13/2007