Figure 1.--This German boy wears a rather elegant kneepants sailor suit. I'm not sure what color it was, but it looks to be a velvet suit. He wears long stockings as was common in the late 19th century. |
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Kneepants were especially common with sailor suits, beginning in the 1870s. At the peak of popularity for the sailor suit, from the 1880s-1900s, they were primarily worn with kneepants and long stockings. Kneepants sailor suits were especially common in the United States. Usually virtually all sailor suits were made with kneepants, except for a few with long pants. After the turn of the 20th century boys began to wear their sailor suits with kneesocks or three-quater length socks rather than long stockings. This was especially prevalent in France even before the turn of the century.
Kneepants were especially common with sailor suits, beginning in the 1870s. Some sailor suits were made with long pants and even knickers, but the great bulk of production was kneepants. At the peak of popularity for the sailor suit, from the 1880s-1900s, sailor suits were primarily worn with kneepants and long stockings, although this varied somewhat from country to country.
Sailor suits were mostly worn with long pants, often bell bottoms through the 1860s. Kneepants became increasingly popular in the 1870s and by the 1880s most sailor suits came with kneepants. This continued until thr 1910s when more and more sailor suits were made with short pants.
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The popularity of knee pants for sailor suits varied from country to country. Knee pants sailor suits were especially common in the United States. Usually virtually all 19th century sailor suits were made with knee pants, except for a few with long pants. After the turn of the 20th century boys continued began to wear their sailor suits with knee pants. A good example is an unidentified American boy. This began to change after World War I (1914-18). American boys commonly wore knickers, but these were not common with sailor suits. We see boys wearing sailor suits with both long and short pants. We see boys wearing three-quater length socks and knee socks rather than long stockings. We see knee pants also being worn in Europe with sailor uits. In some countries blloner knickkers were alkso popular. Three quarter-length socks were especially prevalent in France even before the turn of the century. After World War I sailor suits were still widely worn in Europe, but mostly with short pants and to a lesser degree long pants. Some formal sailor suits were worn with knee pants. A good example is an English boy wearing a formal sailor suit outfit for a violin recital.
The authors do not have details on pants style. They were normally worn at knee level or longer. They were not worn above the knee, although a growing boy may sometimes have rather short kneepants. The kneepants for sailor suits like other knee pants generally had three bittons at the knee.
The detailing for sailor suits was primarily on the blouse. We do noe pants during the 19th cetury with bold stripes. This was a style normally confined to sailor suit psnts. A good example is English boy Harry Shaw, probably about 1890.
Sailor knee pants continued to be mostly blue and white. White pants were less common before the turn of the century, but became more common during the 1990s. Classic-style suits generally had matching blouses and pants or white blouses with dark pants. The non-classic styles sometimes had dark blouses and white pants.
Kneepants in the late 19th century were mosly worn with long stockings, although this varied from country to country. This included kneepants sailor suits. This begin to change at the turn of the century. American boys usually wore long stockings, although during the summer many bots went barefoot. Wesee English boys wearing long stockings, but younger boys often wore socks. French boys in the 1890s began to wear kneepants sailor suits with knee socks or three-quarter length stocks. This tendency was pronounced in France even before the turn-of-the century.
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