Figure 1.-- This little boy is with an Eton collar and ribbon tie is unidentified. He is wearing strioed long stockings, It looks like yiou can see the top of the stiockings, but we are not sure. The fringed chair was popular in the 1870s. The studio was Boyington in Lowell, Massaxgusetts.

Many American boys wore long stockings in the 1870s, we rarely see socks even with very young children. But as many boys were still wearing long pants we have no idea about what kind of hosiery these boys were wearing. This was especially the case in the early and mid-70s. As shortenened-length pants had begun to become increasingly standard for younger boys, hosiery companies were making longer-length hosiery. Knee pants in the 1970s tened to be cut quite long, often well bwlow the knee. We first see shortenened-length pants to any extent in the 1860s and see many more in the 1870s, although still mostly younger boys. We see some children in Europe wearing socks, but American children always seem to be be wearing long stockings except of course when going barefoot. We rarely see boys much over over about 10 years wearing knee pants. Striped stockings were esopecially popular. The boy here is a good example (figure 1). As the boys were wearing knee pants, often cut at calf level, the length of the stockings is unclear.

Created: 6:09 PM 1/7/2023
Last updated: 6:09 PM 1/7/2023