Figure 1.--This American boy in 1929 wears what looks to be a one-piece sleeveless play suit. Most play suits had sleeves. HBC does not believe that this was a widely worn style. It may well have been sweed by this boys' mother.

Play suits were made in a many different styles. The one common thread was they were many simple outfits, much less complicated and heavy thatn the more formal outfits common worn before World War I. HBC has only limited information on these outfits at this time. Some of these outfits began to become standardized by the late 1920s. Some mothers may have made outfits they designed themselves as many mothers in the 1920s still sewed. The outfit here appears to be a play suit. It is difficult to make out the precise construction of the garment here. The top may be similar to a sleeveless vest of today and the bottom being shorts that buttoned onto the vest.

A HBC reader reports that with the buttons through the waist and the sleeveless top, it appears to him to be a summer style union suit for little boys. "I saw one very similar to it in a 1936 Spring/Summer Sears Roebuck Catalogue. Of course, it could be a sewn outfit. Without a better look it would be impossible to tell." HBC wonders if a 1920s mother would have allowed a boy to play in a union suit. The reader replies, "That is a good question. However, I remember an image from the beach where HBC states that the boy is wearing long underwear." Maybe at this young age such conventions in the summer were not so unusual? At any rate we will be interested in what our reader turns up from the Sears catalog.

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Created: April 8, 2001
Last updated: April 11, 2001