* United States boys clothes: suits chrnology 20th century 1950s jackets








United States Boys' Suits Chronology: The 1950s


Figure 1.--This Kodachrom slide shows the boys all dressed up in the back yard, probably ready for church. Note the saddle shoes and the non- standard jackets. The younger boy seems to have an Eton jacket. They look to be about 6-11 years old.

Major stylistic shifts ocurred during the decade. Standard suits and sports jackets were worn with large collars, but more normal sized were standard by the end of the decade. Sport jackets with different colored matrial for the jacket and sleves were popular at the beginning of the decade, but went out of fashion after the middle of the decade. You still see the contrasting material sports jackets in the early and mid-decde, but by the end of the decade jackets had a more classic look. Darks suits were the most common, although some boys had light-colored suits or sports jackets for Easter and summer wear. Blazers were becoming incereasingly common as an alternative to sports jackets. We also see non-standard suit jackets that were done more like casual jackers than suit jackets. These may not have come with matching pants. We don't recall seeing many of these at the time, but as a boy was not paying much attention to such matters. Tgere would have beenb a social class factor here. More affluent famolies would have chosen the more conservative standard style suit jackets. Norfolk jackets were no longe popular, although we still see a few early in the decade, but also passed from the fashion scene. Jackets for older boys and men had very wide lapels, but by the end of the decade had become quite narrow. Some boys still wore short pants suits which were still available in sizes up to about 12 years old. Boys from affluent families were the most likely to wear short pants suits. The Eton suit for little boys which first appeared in the 1920s began to grow in popularity.







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Created: 5:31 AM 10/1/2020
Last updated: 5:31 AM 10/1/2020