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English boy clothes -- suits garments trousers short pants chronology 1920s
English Boys Short Pants Suits: Chronology -- The 1920s
Figure 1.-- This postcard-back photograph snapshot shows an unidentified English brother and sister at the beach, perhaps taken by the street photgraphers working resort area. They look to be bout 12-16 years old. Notice the girl's cloche hat and long stockings, clealy signling the 1920s. The boy wears a double-breasted short pants suit with very long shorts and knee socks. The only concession to the beach is that he is not wearing a tie. An English reader notes, "The boy has a pocket watch in his breast pocket. This is at the end of the leather strap."
Short pants suits by the 1920s had become the standard for Englisg boys' suits. They were virtully universal. Short pants were little different than knee pants, both cut at` long lengths. The decorative knee hem buttons became less common, except for higher end suits. Most primary (elementary) age boys wore short pants suits or blazers and shorts. They were also worn by younger teens. The cut in the erly 20s was ofen very long, but trim fitting. Suits in fact were much or commonly worn at the time than is the case today. The casual styles worn today were little seen in the 1920s and 30s. We are not sure about the colors. Boys wore short pants suits for activities for which the modern boy would not dream of wearing a suit. Basically the suit wa the standard boy's garment. We even see boys wering suits to the beach, although the tie might be left off as a casual gesture. Boys during the inter-War eralmost always wore suits with knee socks. We have not noted long stockings. We see girls wearing long stockings, but not the boys. Undated images can often be dated by the high-top shoes that were still common in the decade.
