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English boy clothes -- suits garments trousers short pants 20th century
English Boys Short Pants Suits: Chronology -- 20th Century
Figure 1.--This post-card back prtrait shows a boy naned Lloyd wearing a single-breasted vested short psnts suit. He seems to be wearing an Eton collar with a bow tie. Unsusually the Eton collar is covered. It does not seem to be a school uniform, but a regular suit. Shorts still tended to be quite long in the 20s. He wears knee socks with turn-over tops. They do not look to be school sicks. LLoyd looks to be about 8 years old. The portrit is undated. We would guess it was taken in the 1920s in part because of the high-top shoes. The card was sent to his Aunt Maud for Christmas. The studio looks to be Hobert in Lancaster.
The British invented short pants in the 19th century, but they were only worn by very young bous. Much more common were straigh-leg knee pants anf knickers. We begin to see what look like short pants suits for school age boys at the turn of the century. Some were crtually not short pnts suits, but knee pants suits. They just look like short pants suits because British boys began wearing knee socks rather than long stockings before boys in otgher countries. Her Baden Powell's Boy Scout iniform may have been a factor. It is little difficult to tell the difference between knee pants and short pants suits in the photographic record during the early-20th century. And to further complicate the issue, the Brirish begn referring to short pants as knickers at least in trade publications. In popular parlance the term became short trouswrs. (Short pants is an Ameroican term.) Short pants syits were stndard for British boys in the inter-War era (1920s and 30s) and they were worn with knee socks rather than long stockings. They were worn by a wide swath of British society. The only social class fifference was that sime what older middle-class boys wore short pants suits. Often workib-class boys began wearing long pants suits after leaving school. This continued during the 1940s and into the 50s. It is at this point tha long pnts began to be note common and that boys begn to dress more cassually meaning that suits in general became less common (1960s). hort pants suits did not immediatly disappear but gradually they became more pf a school uniform item than a suits bought as ordinary wear (1970s). Dome younger boys still had short pants suits. By the end of the century we rarely see short pants suits an more..
The 1900s
Boys mostly wore knee pants suits in the 1900s, especially school-age boys. Once boys left school they commonly began wearing longpants. Th knee pants were nostly worn wih long stockings. The stockiing supporters so commin in america were less common in England. Actully long stockings sem more like knee socks that wre pulled up rather than done as turn-over-top-socks. Short pants were given great popularity by Lord Baden Powell and his nascent Boy Scout Movement. They were seen as rugged outdoor wear. We are not sure when the first short pants suits for boys appeared, probably the 1900s.
Short pants suits did not appear commonly until the 1910s, at least we do not see many examples in the photograohic record until the 1910s. And knee pants suit seem more common than short pants suit. Most boys wore shortened-lenth-pants of some kind into their teens. Boys who left school often began wearing long pants. Boys in school tended to wear short oants longer. It is, however, a little difficult to tell because early shorts were so long. They were the same length as knee pants. It is diffucult to tell in many photographs if a boy is wearing short pants or knee pants. The difference was not the length, but the three-button decorative trim at the hem. We are not sure if there was a preceived difference at the time. We think shorts were still largely called knee pants. England was a little different than many other countries because long stockings were much less common than many other countries. We see boy wearing knee socks or turning down their long stockings, it is often difficult to tell from the photographs. And we are not entirelyh sure what the length of the long stockings were. Notice the boy here (fifure 1). He wears turn-over-top cuffed knee socks. If the turn-over top were streached out, it would extended over the boys knee and look like long stockings. Girls seem to have comtinued wearing long stockings longer than boys.
Short pants suits by the 1920s had become the standard for Englisg boys' suits. They were virtully universal. Short panty were little different than knee pants, both cut at` long lengths. Notice how long the shorts are here (Figure 1). 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 stndard 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 wth knee socks. We have not noted long stockings. We see girls wearong long stockings, but not boys. Undated images can often be dated by the high-top shoes that were still common in the decade.
The same basic trends that appeared in the 1920s continued into the 1930s. Suits continue to be commonly worn, much more commonly than is the case today and not hust for special occassions. Shrt pants suits continue t be commonly offered in catalogs. Boys in the 30s still did not have lage wardrobes of casual clothing. Short pants suits continued to be standard wear for English bpys with little change. The jackets we see are mostly single- and double-breasted styles. We continue to see most primary school age boy and younger teens wearing short pant suits. We tend to see fewer vest suits. A good example is Ken Adams who was about 13-14 years old in the 1930s. We see very little change, although the length of the shorts were a little shorter, but only slightly. We see, however, mostly long shorts hut a little above the knees. We see knee socks with a pattern design on the turn-over top cuffs. Most seem grey rather than the dark knee sock common in the 20s, especially the ealy-20s. By the 30s these suits were commonly worn with low cut shoes, rather the high-tops often worn in the 20s.
The 1940s
Short pants suit were still commonly worn by English boys after World War II (1939-45).
The 1950s
It began to be less common, however, for boys to wear suits. Also, gradually in the 1950s they began to become less popular.
The 1960s
Short pants suits were still worn in the 1960s, but were less common and generally worn by younger boys. While short pants suits became less common, shorts were still very common for school uniforms. The shorts until the 1960s, however, continued ti be the long baggy styles.
The 1970s
Continental or short cut shorts became fasionable in the 1970s, but they were not commonly worn with suits as it had become less common for boys of any age to wear short pants suits. Shorts were still commonly worn as school uniform in elementary school and preparatory schools (private elememetary schools), but short pants suits were not common. A few prep schools used short pants suits as the uniform, but blazers and grey shorts were much more common.
