Figure 1.--This photograph looked Americam to us until we noted that one of the boys is wearing tights. We do not know where it was taken. It is unusual for American boys to wear tights. We wonder if he was involved in some kind of gymnastic or wrestling competition.

We have noted some images of boys wearing tights, but are unsure about the country or countries involved. Some of the more recent images show boys wearing tights with short pants in warm Summer weather. We were a little surprised to see this. These images look to have been taken in the early 2000s, although they are not dated. We are not sure how common this was.

Image 1

The boys here look very Ameican to us (figure 1), although we are not at all certain. Boys clothing in the 21st century is much more uniform across national borders than in the 20th century. We would guess that the photograph was taken about 2000. American boys did not commonly wear tights. One possibility is that the boy was involved in gymnastics or werestling competitions. A Canadian reader writes, "It could be tights for cycling. Here in Canada and also in France, it is common to see men doing bicycle in such apparel. Maybe this boy is doing that. Another possiblity is that he is in a gym exercise outdoor. For doing so, he seems to wear tights without foot and no pants. Here we see him at the end of exercise while having his short pants, socks and shoes pulled on. It can be in Switzerland where there is a long tradition of wearing stockings and tights like in Germany. A last possibility is that he is practizing football. I observed that adult players do their exercises with tights in outdoor. When adults do something, younsters will do the same. For avoiding cramps and letting muscles warm, nothing better than tights. If so, it is in America or Canada. An expert on shoes may be able to tell us what kind of sports here. But it is not a casual clothing like school uniform. But if designers look at your site, they will get new ideas after fashion popular 50 years ago. If so, we will see boys and girls in a kind of unisex clothing in a near future showing them like in a picture from Russia HBC recently loaded. This new wave will be back on short pants and tights as a new style based on past clothing. For long since 1950, boys refused to wear tights because identified to girls. They were scaring to be called "sissy". But now, tights have disappeared from girls clothing. Girls wear jeans like boys . If not identified to girlish clothing, boys will wear them, meanly if they are useful in sports first. If they like the feeling of wearing tights, they will wear them even for school like it was during the first part of the 20th century. As a matter of fact, fashion is always "retro"."

Image 2

Here we see another unidentified image, also probanly from the early 21st century. We are not at all sure where this photograph was taken. The boys look American, but the background looks rather European to us. We have noted German boys wearing tights for playing soccer in cold weather. We have noted European boys wearing long stockings with short pants into the 1950s, but we have not noted them wearing tights wih short pants, especially for casual wear during the Summer. We are not sure how common this is or just where the boys are from. We would rule out Britain as well as southern Europe (Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Greece, and the Balkan countries). We would guess that this and some similar photographs were probably taken in northern Europe, probably Germany, but we are not at all sure. Perhaps HBC readers will know. A Russian reader writes, "I am sure that the photographs here are not Russian. I think it is rather unusual for the boys to wear tights like this. The boys are wearing short panrs with sheer colored tights (kolgotki). I have seen Russian boys wearing long stockings and tights with shorts, but not commonly in recent years and these images seem to be taken recently."

Navigate the Historic Boys' Clothing Web Site:
[Introduction] [Activities] [Biographies] [Chronologies] [Countries] [Style Index]
[Bibliographies] [Contributions] [Frequently Asked Questions] [Links] [Glossaries] [Satellite sites]
[Boys' Clothing Home]

Created: 8:02 PM 4/20/2005
Last updated: 11:19 PM 4/20/2005