Figure 1.--Here we see two boys watching a parade in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We think it may have been the annual Labor Day parade held at the end of summer on Seotember 1. Notice the boy even thouh it is war out wears aong-sleeve shirt. Short sleeves were not yet common. Instead he has rolled up his sleeves. Notice one boy wears knickers, but has rolled down his knee socks. Also notice the period high-top smeakers. The other boy is barefoot.

We see boys wearing both collared and colarless shirts. Most shirts were long-sleeve, but we see some short-sleeve shirts as well. (This is in part a demographic matter. Before World War II and air conditioning, the American population ws concentrated in the north where warm summer weather was only a few months. Thus short sleeves were not as popular as theyt would become after the War. Some shirts for boys 10 years of age and under are made in the button-on style. We still see shirts being called waists. Note that the term "waists" used in these advertisements refers not to underwear waists but to boy's shirts--especially those with waist buttons to button on to short pants. Underwear waists also had buttons, however, for the purpose of attaching outer clothing such as short pants as well as pin tubes to allow for the fastening of hose supporters. The use of the term "waist" for both boys' outer shirts and for underwear with waist buttons is a bit confusing for modern readers. Waists were very similar to modern shirts, but were not called waists because there were no shirt tails. Tails were not needed as the waists securely buttoned on to under-wear waists or the pants directly. They were presumably included on the page with short pants because they were most commonly worn with shorts pants. They were, however, not exclusively worn with shorts. After the early part of the decade we no longer see the term 'waists and blouses being used for school age boys. This meant that for the most part, except for button-on shirts, that they had shirt tails. Some shirts were made in 'coat style'. Most of these shirts are for boys up to the age of 14. Stiped T-shiets had become an important style for boys by the end of the decade. They were done in both short and long-sleeve styles.

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Created: 9:46 PM 2/24/2010
Last updated: 8:46 PM 1/8/2015