Figure 1.--Here we see three happy brothers in white sailor outfits. The unidentified boys look bout 2-8 years old. The younger boy who does not yet have his curls cuts wears a sailor tunic and white socks. The two older boys wear kniicker sailor suits with dark long stockings. Their fooyweat is qyute varied. The tounger boy wears multi-strap shoes, the middleboy wears ht ere clled at the time barefoof sandals, and their older brother wears piffy two-tone button high-top shoes. The cabinet card portrait is undated, but we would guess was taken about 1910, perhaps the early-10s.

There were important changes in American boys' clothing during the 1910s. The most significant is that boys began wearing knickers rather than knee pants that were commonly worn in the 1900s. Footwear trends were less changed, although new styles appeared. There was no one standard style in th 1910s. We still see older styles, but mixed with new styles. Boys continued wearing high-top shoes, although laceups genrally replaced button shoes. We still notice large numbers of high-tops. We see low-cut shoes, but the high-tops were much more common. A good assessment of footwear types can be found in school images during the decade. We see large numbers children, especilly the boys still wearing high tops. We see sandals in the 1910s, but not very commonly. Sandals and strap shoes after the 1910s became primarilyseen as a girls style. They continue to be the principal footwear type worn by boys. We see American boys wearing sneakers in the 1910s, but they were just beginning to become popular and they were seen as a casual style. Most boys wore leather shoes to school, although we seem some boys going brefoot to school. Sneakers were seen as a decidely casual style. Ultimately sneakers would predominate, but not in the 1910s. We still see ankle and instep strap shoes in the 1910s. We also see sandals. The ankle straps disappeared after World War I.

Created: 11:52 PM 8/23/2016
Last updated: 11:52 PM 8/23/2016