Figure 1.--This advertisement for suspender waists appeared in the "Ladies Home Journal" during 1916. The ad stressed that the company's suspender waists were made for both boys and girls. |
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Suspender waists were a support garment to hold up other garments. So-called “suspender waists” were invented at the turn of the 20th century and were popular mainly with boys who wore knee pants and needed a way of supporting their long stockings—almost always black. Although some models of the suspender waist (such as Kazoo) were manufactured in styles that could be worn also by girls, the main wearers of these waists were boys. They were called “suspender waists”
because they combined trousers suspenders with hose supporters and had leather suspender attachments for holding up knee pants in addition to hose supporters for long stockings. The style did not last very long and was most popular during the 1910s. N.B. Suspender waists are not to be confused with the older style of garter waists (such as the Dr. Parker waist) which also had suspender-like straps over the shoulders, a waist belt (sometimes with waist buttons for outer clothing),
and hose supporters. With true suspender waists only the garter part of the waist can be classified as underwear because the shoulder straps would be visible (like ordinary modern suspenders) on top of a shirt. A good example is a 1918 ad for Kazoo suspender waists. The 1918 ad shows a boy actually wearing the suspender waist, and we also see his younger sisters wearing a different version made for girls. A 1919 ad for Kazoo suspender waists gives a diagram illustrating how the suspenders actually attach to the trousers and illustrates in addition what the masculine appeal of the Kazoo was for boys who might still be forced by their mothers to wear the younger boy's standard underwaists. Another brand was the Sampson suspender waist.
Suspender waists were a support garment to hold up other garments. So-called “suspender waists” were invented at the turn of the 20th century and were popular mainly with boys who wore knee pants and needed a way of supporting their long stockings—almost always black.
Although some models of the suspender waist (such as Kazoo) were manufactured in styles that could be worn also by girls, the main wearers of these waists were boys.
They were called “suspender waists”
because they combined trousers suspenders with hose supporters and had leather suspender attachments for holding up knee pants in addition to hose supporters for long stockings. N.B. Suspender waists are not to be confused with the older style of garter waists (such as the Dr. Parker waist) which also had suspender-like straps over the shoulders, a waist belt (sometimes with waist buttons for outer clothing),
and hose supporters. With true suspender waists only the garter part of the waist can be classified as underwear because the shoulder straps would be visible (like ordinary modern suspenders) on top of a shirt.
The first suspender waist we note was in 1901. We note quite a few ads in magazines and catalogs. The style did not, however, last very long. They appear to have been most popular during the 1910s. We are not sure just why it disappeared.
A good example is a 1918 ad for Kazoo suspender waists. The 1918 ad shows a boy actually wearing the suspender waist, and we also see his younger sisters wearing a different version made for girls. A 1919 ad for Kazoo suspender waists gives a diagram illustrating how the suspenders actually attach to the trousers and illustrates in addition what the masculine appeal of the Kazoo was for boys who might still be forced by their mothers to wear the younger boy's standard underwaists. We see another Kazoo suspender waist add in 1920-21. Another brand was the Sampson suspender waist.
Suspender waists can seem somewhat confusing. An explanation of the metal parts on these garments may be useful. Some points to notice; (1) The construction of the entire waist is made of elastic webbing, so all the straps stretch with bodily movement.
(2) The only non-elastic part is the square in the the middle of the back where the four straps meet and are sewn together.
(3) The shoulder straps have metal buckles in front on each side for
adjustment of length (just like the buckles on modern men's suspenders or braces. This is also similar to what Carl has on his garter waist.). (4) There are three leather parts, each with two buttonholes, for attaching to the buttons on the boy's trousers--one in back and two in front (left and right). These leather ends are also like those on modern adult suspenders or braces. The buttons to which the leather ends attach are probably on the OUTSIDE of the boy's trousers at the waistline (although they could be sewn
inside the waistline of the trousers). If you looked at the trousers, you would see two black buttons at the back (for one of the leather ends) and four buttons (two on each side) for the two front leather ends. (5) There also are buckles on the straps of the two hose supporters (also for adjustment of length). This is also the situation with the hose supporters that Tom and Karl are wearing. But John's hose supporters are part of a continuous strap that goes over his shoulders and therefore cannot be detached. They're all part of the same garment. No safety pins are involved
here. (6) At the end of two hose supporters (the Y shape at the bottom), the double pendants are non-elastic. The clasps have a rubber button that goes under the top of the stocking and a metal loop that fits over the button to secure the stocking in place. The clasps are exactly the same as those worn by Tom and Carl. The only difference between John's garters and Tom and Carl's is that
there is no safety pin for attachment at the top because the garters are already part of the shoulder straps.
The illustrations included with these advertisements often were designed to illustrate an attribute of the garment. The most common attributes stressed was stregth and flexibility. Here we are not sure what the point of the illustration was designed to show. A HBC reader writes, "Notice that the suspenders are first attached to the knickers and then the suspenders are attached to the waist with the knickers already on them. It looks as if the mother does this by pinning the suspenders to the waist." HBC is not sure. The imagee is not real clear. I don't think anything is pinned on. After all the whole purpose of the suspender waists was to provide secure support to avoid pins. We think there are two sets of suspenders here. The suspender waist holds up the boy's long stockings. What I am unsure about is whu the suspenders attached to his knickers are so low. A HBC reader explains, "The photo shows a mother in 1916 presiding over her three children who are all in the process of getting dressed--two boys and a girl. The older boy wears the original Kazoo suspender waist for boys with the suspenders for his trousers and the extended straps of the suspenders ending in his hose supporters (attached to the black
long stockings that he wears with his knee pants). His pants are not pulled up so that the garter attachment underneath can be clearly displayed in the picture. The younger children are wearing a modification of the Kazoo suspender waist, which is almost indistinguishable from the Dr. Parker style of garter waist shown in the Sears 1902 ad for a "combination belt and supporters" and was made in various modifications (and with various names) all the way up through the 1940s. The younger children also have shoulder straps
on their waists, but these are worn underneath their outer clothing as
ordinary garter waists would be worn. These younger-style Kazoo waists have waist bands with buttons on them for attaching outer clothing plus the hose supporters suspended from the waistband. Note that the more grown-up style of Kazoo, worn by the older boy, has no waist band with extra buttons. It has only two functions; (1) to support his trousers in the fashion of adult male suspenders and (2) to support his long stockings. It rather looks as though the Kazoo suspender waist was invented originally only for boys, being a
combination of trousers suspenders and hose supporters. The design proved very popular with boys, and the manufacturers therefore designed another garment which would be suitable for girls and for younger boys who still needed the extra waist buttons which the older boys no longer needed. So now Kazoo can advertise its suspender waists as suitable for any child from 2 to 18 regardless of gender." What confuses HBC is how low the suspenders on the boy's knickers come and how he would pull them up. A reader writes, "Actually in real life they don't fall this low. The picture is just arranged this way so as to illustrate the construction of the garment. If the
boy were fully dressed, you could see the ends of his suspenders at the waist level, but the hose supporters would be hidden under his knee pants. "
There were different brands of suspender waists. Catalog stores sold some that were not branded, but advertizing and some catalog entries stressed the brand names. The two most important brands were Kazoo and Sampson. Another brand was Wolverine, but this was really an early version of the Kazoo waist. The differences between the two are not immediately apparent from looking at the ads, but there were notable differences.
A HBC reader speculates that suspender waists were more commonly worn with kneepants than knickers. He writes, "Older boys wearing kneepants and knickers probably used the suspender waists. For some reason that is not readily apparent to us, we believe that boys wearing knickers didn't wear the suspender waists as much. Here this is just conjecture at the present time." There is of course no way to be sure about this. We do ote that suspender waists were primarily worn in the 1900s and 10s. This was the time that American boys shifted tfrom primarily wearing kneepants to mostly wearing knickers. Our reader writes, "I'm not sure my original distinction about the relevance of knee pants and above-the-knee knickers to
suspender waists has any real validity. This boy with knickers could just as easily wear a suspender waist as a boy with knee pants. The most important point, I believe, is that suspender waists seem to have been commonly worn by teenage boys to hold up trousers and long stockings at the same time." There were in 1900 many teenage boys wearing kneepants, but by 1920 when suspender waists appear to have disappeared, far fewer teenage boys were wearing kneepants. Some younger boys were still wearing kneepants, but most boys were by then wearing knickers.
Several brands of suspender waists were widely marketed in the early 20th century. One of the most popular, at least based on the extent of the advertizing, was the Kazoo suspender waists. Mostly these adds emphasized the strength and durability of these garments. For some reason we notice that in 1919 the Kazoo advertisements stressed that kazoo suspender waists were prefereed by boys than the waists suits which were depicted as a sissy garment for girls and younger boys. The ads made the point that if mothers did not get the Kazoo suspender waists for their sns, they would be teased or get into fights with other boys. We note ads in Good Housekeeping, but they may appeared in other magazines as well. Other Kazoo ads made this point, but in 1919 the Kazoo ads were much more explicit. We note one add stressing the point about teasing. Another ad made the point about fighting. We are unsure to what extent such teasing took place, but suspect it was not a fiction created by the company. These advertisements for Kazoo Boys' Suspender Waists are very valuable for HBC purposes because it illustrates older boys' attitudes toward the underwaists that they had had to wear at younger ages and that they were growing out of. Apparently the company reconsidered this ad campaign because they did not continue to promote this approach. e have no details as to why this corporate decession was made.
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