Figure 1.--Here two boys wear sailor suits wih black long stockings and sandals during 1916. These double-bar sandals were the most populsar style in the 1910s. Long stockings seem to rther defeat the purpose of sandals, but we see quite a few boys wearing sandals with long stockings. The background here is very interesting. It is a leafy city suburb. Notice the sidewalk while the street is not paved. Also the house give a good idea of social class, affluent but certainly not wealthy. A reader writes, "When a new style comes out, it is usually the more affluent that buy it. This may explain why the sandals are worn by better dressed people in the early 1900s."

Sandals seem to have been fairly popular in the 1910s. We see quite a number of both boys and girls wearing sandals. This seems to have been the decade in which sandals were most popular for boys. We note both light- and dark-colored sandals, but the black-and-white phoograophy of the day makjes it difficult to assess actual colors. We even see some older boys sand men wearing them. They were commonly worn with hosiery, but we also see them being worn without hosiery. We see quite a few boys and girls wearing sandals in the 1910s. They seem most common with affluent families, bu\t thids social class factor seems to be prevalent than it became in subsequent decades. The most popular style seems ro have been the double-bar strap sandals. They seem popular with many of the styles younger boys wore, including tunic suits, sailor suits, and Oliver Twist suits. We see boys wearingthem both without hosiery as well as with hosiery, commonly long stockings. We see sandals offered in mail order catalogs througout the 1910s. A good example is Sears barefoot sandals in 1915. The sandals the boys are wearing here look like the Seaers barefoot sandals.

Created: 3:27 AM 8/20/2009
Last updated: 9:16 PM 8/22/2009