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We note many Swiss boys, but not the girls, commonly wearing long stockings with added heavy socks cuffed just above ankle level. We have not yet assessed the chronolohy of this convention, but it seems most common in the 1930s and early-40s. The socks were mostl;y heavy-weight socks, perhps hand knitted. There was no effort to match the colors, although the socks were generally lighter colors than the stockings. We are not sure why boys wore the added socks. It may have been primarily a fashion statement. It seems to have been most common with high-top shoes or boots. The boys may have seen it as an athletic look. We note that boys did not wear the socks for formal occassions. Or it may have provided added warmth during the Winter months. The photographic record suggests that this was most common during the Winter, but then stockings were also most common during the Winter. We note Boy Scouts in Europe and America wearing added socks with knee socks with boots when hiking. I don't think this is what is involvded here as the boys would not have been doing a lot of hiking at school. Hopefully our Swiss readers will be able to offer some insights here. A reader writes, "I think it is for added warmth. I used to wear two pairs of socks in Winter time and my feet were always felt warm and comfortable. The Swiss boys look like bright sparks and its a very happy picture. I think it must be spring or there has been rain prior to the photograph the boy's shoes look muddy. Boy Scouts on hiles wear double socks to prevent getting blisters."
We note many Swiss boys, but not the girls, commonly wearing long stockings with added heavy socks.
The boys cuffed just above ankle level. The cuffing seems neatly done. The idea seems to be to bring the socks which look to be mostly lnee socksd doen as low as possible. They were never done at knee level. Often fashions like this are variable, but the boys seem bery consistent about how they cuffed the added socks.
We have not yet assessed the chronolohy of this convention, but it seems most common in the 1930s and early-40s.
The socks were mostl;y heavy-weight socks, perhps hand knitted.
There was no effort to match the colors, although the socks were generally lighter colors than the stockings.
We are not sure why boys wore the added socks. It may have been primarily a fashion statement. The boys may have seen it as an athletic look. We note that boys did not wear the socks for formal occassions. Or it may have provided added warmth during the Winter months. The photographic record suggests that this was most common during the Winter, but then stockings were also most common during the Winter. We note Boy Scouts in Europe and America wearing added socks with knee socks with boots when hiking. I don't think this is what is involvded here as the boys would not have been doing a lot of hiking at school. Hopefully our Swiss readers will be able to offer some insights here. A reader writes, "I think it is for added warmth. I used to wear two pairs of socks in Winter time and my feet were always felt warm and comfortable. The Swiss boys look like bright sparks and its a very happy picture. I think it must be spring or there has been rain prior to the photograph the boy's shoes look muddy. Boy Scouts on hiles wear double socks to prevent getting blisters."
It seems to have been most common with high-top shoes or boots. "I think the additional socks worn with long stockings were only used with hightop hiking boots (or at least usually restricted to such shoes). I notice that boys who wear lowcut shoes with long stockings or strap shoes do not wear the extra heavy socks. Notice the attached photos from Swiss schools in Zurich. Perhaps the fact that all three of these examples come from Zurich, a major city, rather than from smaller or more rural communities has a bearing on the wearing of the
heavy additional socks. I notice many examples in the HBC Swiss school section." HBC generally agrees with our reader's assessment, but notes that in the 1930s boys still wore high-top shoes and that in some cases they were not hiking boots.
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