Figure 1.--Here we see an unidentified American boy wearing glasses with his trumpet. He wears a knee pants suit with knee-length knee pants. The portrait is undated, but the suit styke and mount suggest the 1900s. Note the lapel jacket and soft collar. Boys in the 1890s more common wore collar buttoning jackets. In the 1910s, knickers were more common.

The basic stlistic elements of knee pants are leg length and width. Waislinectreatment is also a feature, but often mpore practical than stylistic and when worn as part of auit was often covered up. These elements varied chronologically. Early American knee pants were often quite long, looking rather like long pants that the boy had outgrown. A good example is a Boston boy, probably in the late 1860s. Knee pants cut at calf-level were common. Some even approached ankle length. These longer lengths, especially calf lengths, were also common in the 1870s. We begin to see shorter cuts in the 1880s and they became standard in the 1890s. This length continued into the 1900s until knee pants were generally replaced by knicketrs in the 1910s. Knee pants were commonly called "straight-leg" knee pants in the United States. Unlike knickers, they were never cut in a voluminous manner, although we do see variations in width as well as length. Wide styles seem popular in the 60s when knee pants first brcame popular, at least for younger boys. Slim cuts were particularly popular in the 90s. Knee pants were normally held up by suspenders. Belts required loops t the waist, but were no common until aftr knee pants without of style.

Leg Length

Early American knee pants were often quite long, far longer than knee level. They often looked rather like long pants that the boy had outgrown. Some early knee pants even approached ankle length. A good example is a Boston boy, probably in the late 1860s. The pants hem might come down to the boy's ankles. Knee pants cut at calf-level were much more common and widely worn in the 1860s, 70s, and even the early-80s. We are not entirely sure what they were called at the time because actual knee length pants were rarely seem. The cut began to become shorter in the 1880s. We see pants of variable lenth, some where between the calf and the knee. Actual knee-length pants do not begin to appear in any numbers until the mid-1880s. Thes chronological changes are difficult to fillow precisely because so few portraits were dated. As best we can tell, age ws not a factor here, but our archive is still too limited to make a vaid assessment. Knee-length pants became standard wear in the 1890s. This required hosiery companies to make long stockings in longer lengths. The shift occurred gradually. We begin to see lengths betweem calf and knee length by the early-80s and they grdually became more common. . Almost all American boys wore knee pants with long stockings except when going barefoot. The knee length continued into the 1900s until knee pants were generally replaced by knicketrs by the 1910s. Knickers in the 1910s and 20s continued this knee-length convention. We believe the same basic leg-length shift occured in Europe. We also see similar shifts in girls' dress hem lines.

Leg Widths

Knee pants were commonly called "straight-leg" knee pants in the United States. Unlike knickers, they were never cut in a voluminous manner, although we do see variations in width as well as length. Wide styles seem popular in the 60s when knee pants first brcame popular, at least for younger boys. Slim cuts were particularly popular in the 90s.

Waistline Treatment

Knee pants were normally held up by suspenders. Belts required loops t the waist, but were no common until aftr knee pants without of style.

Created: 8:47 PM 6/23/2010
Last updated: 7:39 PM 1/25/2012