Figure 1.--This is an red border Kodachrome slide, probablt taken in the 1950s, perhaps the early 60s. Boys generally wore what mother picked out for them before they entered school at 6 years of age. Some mothers had an idea as to what most school age boys were wearing. Other mothers, we think like this mother, probably not growing up with brohers had no idea. Short pants were becoming less common in he 1950s--especilly the light=blue patterned shorts like the boy here is wearing. But much worse are the strap shoes. Many boys would hve seen those shoes as girl's shoes. Looking at the backgrond, we are not sure where the home was. It is clearly an American family. But there does not seem to have been many neighbors.

American boys clothing and fashion have varied over time by age. Thus one interesting line to pursue is to look how boys dressed at every chronological age over time. Old photographs do not always identify ages, but this is usually possible to estimate with a fair degree of accuracy. We have relatively little information for early periods thorough the early-19th century. We have wonderful art work, but the number of images were a small faction of what photography made possible. And photography was relatively free of the values and believes that artists introduced into their work. With the invention of photography (mid-19th century) we can follow age developments in some detail, especially the United States where photography was especially popular. Other factors to consider are attitudes toward fashion., this included both parents and children. This also varied over time. Parents in the 19th century basically dictated what the children wire. Mother controlled what he girls and younger boys wore. Father became important for boys at some point in the teens. This varied from family to family, but it was the general pattern. Children had little to say about their clothes, even older children. Another factor was that until after the mid-19th century there were no ready-made clothes. This mean hat there was a huge diversity of styles, basically anything mother wanted. Once ready-made became standard, fashions became more standardized by age groups. Slowly for what ever reason, children began to have more say about what they wore. This began to become important, especially in the 20th century. Some mothers accepted this. Others could not understand want boys might want or did not care. Mothers generally understood better what girls might want. Various ages tended to impact how children felt about clothes. In the 19th century, America and Europe developed public school systems. Mot set 6 years as the beginning age for schools. This mean that for most children., home and parents set the boundary of experiences. Age 6 years thus meant that for the first time they would come into extensive contact with children outside the family. This impacted among other matters what they thought about the clothes mother had selected for them. This was influenced by both what they observed and comments that might be made by the other children. A reader povides some inteesting comments about his expriennces. "The image reminds me of two occasions when I was very young, about 6 or 7 years old. About the same age as the boy here in the early-60s. The first, was when my father had some dealings with a Danish Prince running some company in the United States, the wife, bought a Danish outfit in white and red for me to wear. I remember the shoes were reddish brown strap shoes. I was mortified to wear them, but my mother insisted. I remember buckling the straps and then spending a month wearing out the shoes by scuffing the front of them so my mother would throw them out without forcing me to wear them again. I don't know why I did not object to the button on shorts or the girlish white socks that came with it. But I did not. The second, was a pair of flowered shorts (paisley print) similar to the one in the image with matching trim on the knit shirt. My mother thought it was very stylish at the time. I remember her talking me into liking it by saying how stylish and good I looked in it."

Created: 7:53 PM 2/23/2026
Last updated: 4:45 AM 5/30/2026