French Boys Suits: Knee Pants--Chronology


Figure 1.--These Paris brothers wear similar cut-away jacket suits with calf-length knee pants. The CDV portrait is undated, and we are not sure about the date. We might guess the 1860s, probably the late-60s. The early-70s is certainly possible. They also have iventical white collars and small bows. The only difference between them is that the younger boy has longer hair. The boys are unidentified, but look to be about 5-8 years old. The younger boys wears a fabric hat that matches his suit. The studio was Paul Berthier, Paris.

We are not sure about the chronology of French knee pants yet. French boys wore knee pants for over seven decades, but we are not yet sure just when the first appeared. Photography was invented in France by Louis Daguerre (1839). Unfortunately we have been able to archive very few early French photographic portraits. And the early photographs would be extremly useful in etablishing orgins. We believe that knee pants first appeared in the 1850s, but we have no information about the 1840s yet. Although the Daguerreotype was invented in France, we have found very few examples of French Dags, in sharp contrast to America. As a result, we do not yet have any informtion on the 1840s. Thus we can only begin to follow French fashion trends with the appearance of the CDV in numbers (1860s). We see rather long knee pants in the 1860s. Most were cut at calf-lengh. As the century progressed the length began to get shorter until eventually reaching knee lenbgth. Knee pants and other shortened-length pants become increasingly popular over time. We are still assessing the relative importance of the different types of pants such as bloomer knickers which were contempeaneous with knee pants. We continue to see knee pants suits in the 20th century through the 1910s. By the 1920s we most see short pant suits, but some formal suits were done with the hem buttons characteritic with knee pants into the 1930s.

The 1840s

Photography was invented in France by Louis Daguerre (1839). Unfortunately we have been able to archive very few early French photographic portraits. And the early photographs would be extremly useful in etablishing orgins. As a result, we do not yet have any information on the 1840s. Although the Daguerreotype was invented in France, we have found very few examples of French Dags, in sharp contrast to America.

The 1850s

We believe that knee pants first appeared in France during the the 1850s, but we can not yet conform that because we have no information on the 1840s yet. The CDV was also invented in France during the early-50s. It was not, however, an immediate success. Thus as popular as the CDV became, we have not yet found many examples of 1850s CDVs. We do know that early suits did not have matching jackets and pants. we do see matching suits in the 50s, but suits with different jackets and pants were still very common in the 50s. We see French boys wearing knee pants with both socks and long stockings. It is the younger boys we see wearing knee pants with socks, but in the 50s we only see younger boys weating knee pants. in the few images we have found. Boys wearing knee pants with socks is something you do not see in America where even younger boys wore knee pants with long stockings. Thus with no Dags and Ambro images and few CDVs, assessing the 50s is a real problem. We have found a few undated images that we believe to be from the late-50s or early-60s that give us some hint about decade trends, at least until we can find more verifiable 1850s images.

The 1860s

Thus we can only begin to follow French fashion trends with the appearance of the CDV in numbers (1860s). Suddenly we see large numbers of images and we can begin to assess fashion trends in considerable details. We se several jacket styles, inckuding collar-bitting, cut-sawy, and lapel jackets. They were worn with both shortened-length and lon pants. We see rather long knee pants in the 1860s. Most knee panys were cut at calf-lengh. (The term knee psnts comes from a later, shorter cut.) Most of the suits we see have mtching jackets and pants. We are still assessing the relative importance of the different types of pants such as bloomer knickers which were contempeaneous with knee pants. We note an unidentified Paris boy in a highly embroidered decorated cut-away jacket. Sometimes the enroidery was repeated on the pants, but not in this case. The boy looks to be about 6-years old. I looks similar to a Zouave style, but was not a bright color. The matching knee pant are long and very baggy. He is wearing white stckings which were common in the 60s. Here we see brothers wearing identical cut-away jackets and long knee pants, we think in the late-1860s, possibly the early-70s (figure 1).

The 1870s


The 1880s

As the century progressed the length of knee pants began to get shorter until eventually reaching knee lenbgth. We see this most notably in the 1880s. Knee pants and other shortened-length pants become increasingly popular over time. And by the 1880s they were beginning to become standard.

The 1890s


The 1900s

We continue to see knee pants suits fairly commonly. in the 20th century through the 1910s. By the 1920s we most see short pant suits, but some formal suits were done with the hem buttons characteritic with knee pants into the 1930s. The knee pants suits we see in the 1930s, tended to be the more formal suits.







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Created: 3:56 AM 10/7/2014
Last updated: 6:00 PM 8/13/2016