Figure 1.--This family snapshot is undated, but looks like the 1940s to us. It shows an unidentified biy with his grandmother and mother. Full-cut shorts were common at the time. In this case, however, mother seems to have bought a size that the boy could grow into.

American boyswore short pants cut in different ways. The two main variables were the length and the fullness of the legs. Short pants have varied greatly in lenhth over time. The first short panhts were basically straight-leg knee pants without the leg hem buttons. They were also cut at knee length. short lengths gradually became more popular, especially for younger boys. We still see kne-lenth s into the 50s, but inlike the earlier short pnts cut above the knee. Shorter lenhths became more popur in the 1960s and the athletic-style shorts popular in the 1970s were cut very short. This short length was pipular in the 1989s. we begin to see longer lengths in the 1990s and by-th-tyurn of the 21st century, boys were wearing shorts and knee length . In the early 21st century we see boys commonly wearing shorts cut below the knee. The fullnes of the legs also varies. Straignt leg knee pants in the early-20th century were cut relatively tightly. And we see a similar look in early short pants. For some reason we begin to see fuller cut shorts in the late 1930s and especually the 40s. We begin to see more stanfard cuts in the 1950s. The long-length shoers appearing in the 1990s commonly had full cuts. necomplication in assessing cut is that some mothers like to buy younger, gowing boys large sizes so that they could grow into them. This mean that the boys would not grow out of his clothes before he got some wear out of them.

Created: 1:35 AM 4/22/2010
Last updated: 1:35 AM 4/22/2010