Figure 1.--This large unidentified family had 11 kids. They look to be about 2-16 years of age. Three of the boys wear knicker suits. Nitice the loud patterned knee sovks. |
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The standard hosiery worn by American boys with knicker suits began to change in the late-1920s. We thus see boys mostly wearing knee socks with knicker suits in the 1930s. The boy were wiyh his grandfather is a good example (figure 1). Black long stockings were very common especially in the 1910s and 20s. They became less common in the 1930s, but might be worn for formality. The shift from plain flat colored long stockings to loud knee socks ith bright colors and patterns was quite a shift. We are not entirely sure why this happened. Long stockings were almost never bought with patterns. Knee socks were often patterned, frequenly loud patterns. There were all kinds of patterns done in different colors. We are not sure how common flat-colored knee socks were. Our preliminary assessment is that they wee not very common, but this needs to be confirmed. The photographic record suggests that in America the patterned knee socks wre much more common. It is not clear why this difference developed. The pttrned knee socks, especially the loud pattern were lss common for girls.
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