Figure 1.--This boy visited the New York World Fair in 1940. He participated in a watermellon eating contest and was photographed sitting on the edge of the stage. The press caption read, "'Pint size stomach' or no, seven-year-old Lawrence Murphy won the Watermelon Eating Contest." Notice the button-on shorts.

We see quite a number of American boys wearing button-on shorts during the inter-War era (1920s-30s and into the 40s). Button-on shorts did not disappear, but by the 60s were worn by pre-school boys. It seems to have become a style especially popular for dressy outfits. Button-on styles were not novel. They appeard with the skeleton suits worn in the early-19th century. Short opants were, howwever, relatively new in the 1920s. Earlier boy wore knee pants. Short pants are especially associated with button-on styling because older boys wearing knickers and long pants did not need the button-styling to hold up their pants. HBC is most familiar with American boys wearing button-on shorts. This does not mean, however that the style was most prevalent in the United States. Like other styles like suspender pants, HBC's greater access to American sources may give a misleading view. We do infact believe that button-on styles were widely worn in many European countries, but at this time have few details on which countries and the styles and chronologies involved in these countries. Other options such as suspender pants, suspenders themselves, and H-bar shorts seem more popular in Europe than America. It is not always easy to spot button-on shorts. Many were done with self-belts to cover the buttons. The self-belts were for the most part decorative. It was the buttons which held up the shorts. We are not entirely sure why the belts were added, but because school-age boys were wearing these shorts, we suspect that some of the oldrr boys did not like the idea of wearing button-on shorts. which were seen as a juvenile style. Perhaps readers will know more about this. Button-on shorts had to be dold as sets with the shirts, otherwise the buttons on the shirts might not be in the right placce to fit into the button holes in the shorts. Thus the colors were often coordinated. Button-on styling was not only used for shorts, but it seems the nost common types of pants used.

Created: 11:11 PM 1/29/2014
Last updated: 11:11 PM 1/29/2014