Figure 1.--This unidentified family snap shot was taken in Balitomore during 1924. The livedin a row (terraced) house. You can see the porches of the neigbors neatly lined up in the background. The boys look to be about 5-16 years. The younger boy wears a button-on sailor suit. The middle boywith the poocvh looksto beabout13-yersold. You casn't see much of his suit coat, but it is a knickers suit. The full-cut knickers would have been called plus-fours. Their older brother wears a standard single-breasted jacket, but we are not entirely sure about his pants and hosiery. We think thry might be called breeches. Boy Scouts at first wore pants like this instead of standard knickers. They were not very common. We are also unsure about the hosiery. They do not look like the long stockings his brothers are wearing.

American boys in the1920s continued to dress more formally than is common today. We still see many boys wearing suits, even to school. Suits were, however, much less common than in the 1910s. And many boys increasingly dressed informally. This was especially true for younger boys. We see a range of outfits for younger boys that did not require suit jackets. American boys mostly wore knicker suits. Suits and jackets were worn for many occasions that would call for casual clothes today. Suits that look much like the suits worn today appeared. Single breasted styles were the most popular. One of the most popular styles were Norfolk jackets or jackets with some Norfolk styling. As the decade progressed, double breasted styles became increasingly popular. Younger boys wore Norfolk suits, some at the beginning of the decade with Eton collars. Older boys wore single or double breasted suits, little different than those worn by adults. What Americans now refer to as Eton suits for little boys appeared for the first time in the 1920s. These suits with collarless jackets and short pants (mostly suspender shorts) were usually blue or grey were loosely based on the suit worn by schoolboys at Eton College. The style came to be a classic style worn by younger American boys for several decades and is still worn by some very young boys. Some of the first Eton suits in America had stiff Eton collars, but shirts with Peter Pan collars became more popular.

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Created: 3:43 AM 2/8/2019
Last updated: 3:43 AM 2/8/2019