Figure 1.--German boys in the 1930s commonly wore short pants suits like the boy here. Often they were worn with kneesocks, but many boys wore them with long stockings during cold weather. This was common for younger boys, but not very common for th younger teenagers still wearing short pants. Click on the image for a fuller discussion.

Kneesocks were commonly worn in the 1930s. Long stocks were still worn, but declining in poularity. By the end of the decade we see more boys wearing abnkle socks. Knickers were worn with plain long stockings or with patterned knee socks (like golf socks). The knee socks were more popular with boys but quite a bit less formal. See the 1936 Sears ad for these knee socks designed to be worn with knickers in the 1936 catalog. This photo shows how the socks were supposed to cover the knitted closure of the knickers. Some American mothers, however, who thought that the golf-style knee socks looked too sporty and informal, continued to insist that their boys wear plain tan or beige long stockings with knickers, partly because, if worn with the customary hose supporters, the stockings would not fall down as the knee socks notoriously did. A 1936 ad shows a boy wearing knickers with the conventional tan long stockings. This style of stocking was quite persistent. In 1935-36 we see a Pittsburgh boy of about 5 or 6 wearing shorts with tan long stockings to accompany a sleeveless sweater and collared shirt with a necktie. But shorts were getting shorter. Notice that we can see the clasps of the boys' supporters when he is sitting down. A complementary photo, taken in Boston, shows the Holland brothers wearing the same type of shorts with tan long stockings, a sweater and a tie. This was a standard middle-class style for boys for the chiller seasons of the year. American boys tended to commonly wear knickers with knee socks during the 1930s rather than with long stockings that they had worn in the 1920s. For the more formal occasions, however, plain rather than patterned socks tended to be the style. Long stockings continued to be widely worn in Germany, especially for younger boys during the cold weather. Boys by the time they entered the Hitler Youth at age 10 wore them less commonly. Notice a 1930 photo of two school boys at an exclusive American prep school, Western Reserve Academy, in which one boy, probably about 16, already wears long trousers while the other boy of the same age is still wearing knickers (apparently with the old-style beige long stockings). A few years later we see a WRA boy wearing what became the more typical style of patterned knee socks with his knickers. Our photos of American prep schools (secondary often boarding schools) in the 1930s show that boys in their teens were wearing both long trousers and knickers to school. The choice usually depended on how conservative or how progressive the boy's parents were. Except for very young boys, American boys wearing knickers generally shifted to kneesocks rather than long stockings in the 1930s. One comic photo from WRA, made in the mid-1930s, shows some of the students clowning around in semi-undress, in some cases in only their undershorts. This photo is revealing because it shows some of the boys wearing calf-length socks with adult garters (a sure sign that they wore long trousers) whereas other boys still wear knickers, although knickers with the buckles undone in one case for comic effect.