Figure 1.--This boy had a formal portrait taken of an American boy. Usually boys dressed up for formal portraits like this, but this boy wears a casual shirt. T-shirts with colored stripes were very popular. The portrait is undated, but was probably taken in the 1950s.

"T"-shirts and jeans are some of the most commonly worn clothes worn by modern boys. Girls also wear them. In is interesting to note that neither were commonly worn by American boys until after World War II (1945). We see them in the early 1940s and they sreadily grow in importance. Until the 1940s boys almost always wore shirts with collars, although collar styles had changed greatly over the years. These clothes did not reach Europe and Engand until the 1960s-70s. T-shirts became popular in America during the 1940s. I think they may have been worn to some extent in the 1930s. The inital ones had bright horizontal stripes. White T-shirts were fashionable in the 1950s with teenagers, especially somewhat rebelious teenagers. There were both short and long sleeved styles. There popularity gradually spread overseas. During the 1970s it became stylish to put logos on T-shirts. At first sport logos were popular. This is another trend that begn in Americ. Corporate logo followed as did logos with social or a variety of other messages.

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Created: 7:32 PM 8/25/2008
Last updated: 7:32 PM 8/25/2008