Figure 1.--Here we see a boy and his father on the front stoop of their home. The snapshot is undatedm but looks like the late-1930s to us. The boy wears loud knee socks with his knickers suit. He looks about 13-14 years old. Notice how you almost see low-cut oxfords with these loud knee socks. This was primarily a chronological connection.

Footwear worn with knicker suits also varied. This primarily was a chtonological mtter which is useful in dating the images. This is a helpful device for dating undated images. Of course it is not definitive, but a helpul general rule. We notice both high-top shoes and low-cut oxfords, but rarely sandals. High-top shoes were common in the early-20th century (1900s-20s). The high-tops were mostly button shoes when boys mostly wore knee pants suits (1900s). We mostly note lace-up high-top shoes in the 1910s. The boiy here is a good exazmple (figure 1). Low-cuts begin to appear whicle knicker suits were dtill nearly universal (1920s). As a result the 1920s was a mixed decade. We see both high tops and low-cuts. This varied chronologically, as the decade progressed, high-tops gave way to low-cuts. Low cuts became the standard footwear (1930s). And in the 1930s, we almost always see low-cuts except for very young children who were mostly not wearing knicker suits. The popularity of knicker suits declined in the 30s. They were still very collon in the early-30s, but by the late-30s, American boys were earing a mix of short pnts, knivlers, and long pants suits. We still see knickers suits inthe 1940s, but after World War II (941-45), they were increasingly rare. They were all worn with low-cut shoes. we also do not see boys commonly wearing knicker suits or even just knickers with sneakers.

Created: 5:51 AM 5/3/2017
Last updated: 5:51 AM 5/3/2017