Figure 1.--This unidentified portrait, probably from Latvia looks to have been taken in the 1930s. The boys wear maching turtle-neck sweaters and vests done with folk styling and string ties. They seem to be wearing tights which woukd look like long stockings if the boys were wearing short pants. We were a little surprised to see these tights. As far as we can tell, tights only began replacing long stiockings in the late-1950s and a decade later in the Soviet Union. This is the first time we have noted tight for children in the 1930s. They do not, however, look like hand knitted hosiery. So apparently some company in Latvia or Germany was manufacturing them in the 1930s. They apparently are being worn rather than panys. Note that this is a studio portrait and not a home snap shot.

Latvian children wore a variety of hosiery. We notice Latvian children wearing both knee socks and long stockings during the early-20th century. Long stockings were especially common and almost universal during the cold weather. Latvia on the Baltic has cold winters. And as many boys wore knee pants/short pants, the long stockings helped keep them warm. A good example is an unidentified Latvian boy in the 1930s. This was also common in Germany and throughout the Soviet Union. Knee socks were also widely worn. We see more children wearing ankle socks after World War II. We are not sure at this time if Latvian hosiery trends varied in any meaningful way from the rest of the Soviet Union. Presumably climate was a factor. The boys here in the 1930s look to be wearing knit tights (figure 1). This is something we have not seen earlier, in Latvia are neigboring countries. A Russian reader tells us he has not noted this either in the photographic record. Another reader believes they may be a type of leggings. We do notice a variety of snow pants for younger boys, but not form fitting knitwear for boys this age. The type of knit, however, look similar to us as the long stockings boys commonly wore at the time. We see Latvian children wearing tights in the 1970s when throughout the Siviet Union, tights replaced long stockings. During the warmer weather ankle socks became ibncreasingly common. Here as more boys wore long pants. long stockings were no longer neded. Younger boys still often wore tights.

Related Chronolgy Pages in the Boys' Historical Web Site
[The 1880s] [The 1890s] [The 1900s] [The 1910s] [The 1920s] [The 1930s] [The 1940s] [The 1930s] [The 1940s] [The 1950s] [The 1960s] [The 1970s] [The 1980s]

Related Style Pages in the Boys' Historical Web Site
[Long pants suits] [Knicker suits] [Short pants suits] [Socks] [Eton suits] [Jacket and trousers] [Blazer] [School sandals] [School smocks] [Sailor suits] [Pinafores] [Long stockings]

Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Page
[Return to the Main Latvian hosiery page]
[Return to the Main Latvian garments page]
[Return to the Main Latvian page]
[Return to the Main country sailor suit page]
[Introduction] [Activities] [Bibliographies] [Biographies] [Chronology] [Clothing styles] [Countries] [Girls]
[Bibliographies] [Contributions] [FAQs] [Glossaries] [Images] [Links] [Registration] [Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]

Created: 2:54 AM 4/26/2012
Last updated: 1:57 AM 4/27/2012