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A reader growing up in the 1940s-50s provides an excellent summary of the clothes he wore as a boy In New York: My boyhood years were mostly in the 1960s. There were three of us boys. My slightly younger brother and myself were close in age and our older brother was about 5 years separated from us. I recall an outfit I didn't like at all even as a kindergartner. It was a gift from a European client of my father. Mom often dressed the dressed the two of us alike in the early 60s. guess she liked the look. We didn't think much of it at the time. Our older brother always dressed differently. Our outfits changed dramatically after our parents spent a long summer vacation (3 or 4 weeks) in Europe during 1965. When she came home she changed all of her thoughts about short hair. Until then she had the barber cut our hair short. Suddenly she wanted us to wear it long like Europeans. She also liked the bell bottom pants and wilder colors that she saw in Europe. At that point my brother and I were no longer dressed alike. I remember she bought sweaters and other clothes for us which we continued to wear for some time. I would have been around 7-8 and our older brother 10-11 years old at the time .
My grandmother hey lived in what was once Poland but controlled by Austria-Hungary. [HBC note: This may have been Galacia near Belzny .] The area was ruled by the Hungarian Army. When she was 5-years old he met one of her brother's teachers who told her parents that she was too intelligent not to educate. Back then, when a teacher suggested educating a child the parents listened. I have no idea how the teacher met her but assume it was some sort of tutor (total guess there). So my grandmother was educated which was very unusual per my relatives. In general, Hungarian and German was spoken and taught at the school but when the Russians over ran the border Russian was taught while their army controlled the area. The issue according to her happened that every so often the borders would change slightly where Austria-Hungary and Russia met as well as with some of the Slavic countries. My grandmother was about 12 when that occurred. She was also taught some romance languages such as Romanian which was widely spoken in the area and French. She was taught French at the school because that was the language of educated people. Amazingly she also wrote and spoke fluent Polish. She immigrated to the United States alone at the age of 16 years on a steamer. She emigrated around 1910 and became a U.S. citizen. She did not go through Ellis Island because she had $25 in gold which meant she was self-sufficient. Of course, as soon as she arrived in New York City she wired the money back to her parents. When she realized that Americans lived more freely she decided to follow their customs and not her native customs so she was a flapper in the 1920s. She brought over several of her brothers and they then started bringing over their families. Her oldest brother lost 18 children and grandchildren to the Holocaust. Most of them did not emigrate because they already had families and were established in Pleneshem (phonetic spelling). I know two escaped the concentration camp and one of them committed suicide in the United States a couple of years after the end of the war.
My boyhood years were mostly in the 1960s. There were three of us boys and I was the youngest. My slightly older brother and myself were close in age and our older brother was about 4 years separated from us. We lived in on Long Island, a suburban area of New York City. Father like many other fathers on Long Island commuted to New York City. When I was younger traveling to NYC meant dressing up we wore suits. Sometime before 6th grade that ceased to some degree. My parents would often go to events that required us to dress up such as concerts, Opera, etc. I am uncertain as to when but at some point going to the museum no longer required dressing up, but I do not know when or how that occurred.
There is an image of me in a white Eton styled short suit with a Peter Pan collar complete with white knee socks with stitching and white tie shoes. I have no recollection of the outfit but my mother thought it was very stylish. I still wore diapers under the outfit from the photo so I had to be around 2 years old. I recall an outfit I didn't like at all even as a kindergartner. It was a gift from a European client of my father. I was about 3-4 years old when my father had dealings with a European Prince. That fellow had just arrived in the United States and my father introduced him to people around New York City. I remember that as a gift to my parents my younger brother and I received clothing or a coupon for clothing from an exclusive New York City clothing store. My brother and I wore the outfit then. The purchase included T-strap shoes, short pants, a white shirt with embroidery on a Peter Pan collar and puff sleeves and tartan or plaid shorts. They had a band front and elastic back which I thought was very babyish, but wore for my first day of kindergarten. I am not certain but it may have come with a cardigan too. I have no memory what my oldest brother received, if anything or what my parents received or did not receive. I only knew about that outfit being a gift years later.
Mom often dressed the dressed the two of us close in age alike in the early 60s. guess she liked the look. We didn't think much of it at the time. Our older brother always dressed differently. We were young enough that whatever our mother chose, we accepted. However, I do remember for some reason not liking the fact that people thought my brother and I were twins. But, in general, I was not really interested in clothes until I was 12 or so and then I would go with my mother to pick them out though I think she guided me on whatever I wore.
Funny ... I am not 100 percent certain, however, the magazine image of
an Italian fashion show looks looks familiar to me. I think I told you that my mother prided herself on dressing her children fashionably. I remember her teasing me with a newspaper or magazine article of a child on a runway similar to this in a short suit outfit. I remembered it was Italian and surprised the boy did not have dark hair and skin like my friends who were Italian. Anyway, I was horrified that my mother thought to dress me like that and communicated my thoughts and the good news was I did not have to wear that outfit though she had her revenge when a Danish Prince's wife gave us clothes that were more suited for Denmark than America and I had to wear it to kindergarten...the trials and tribulations of children!
In the summer we wore shorts and jeans and when I was in kindergarten I wore short suits to school around 1961. From first grade through grade school I wore various shirts with jeans and corduroy pants. I do remember that some of them had tartan linings for the winter which I liked better than the unlined scratchy woolen pants. I recall asking for the plaid lined pants and my mother refusing. I also remember woolen shorts and long pants being itchy both had to be fall through winter time. Sometime around ten years old my mother ceased by both types. I have no idea why. Sometime in junior high boys wore shorts to school as well when it was warm. Most of the time cargo shorts. That was sometime around 1968 or shortly thereafter.
My mom bought me a pair of clam diggers in 1964. I was 8 years old. They were white with a red or blue stripe down the side and had an elastic back like boxer shorts. These were worn only during warm weather with mesh or striped shirt I think the shirt did not have cuff around the neck. There was a rope instead of a belt. I remember thinking the rope was cool until it became difficult to untie to go to the bathroom. I didn't care because at that time my parents chose all of my clothes.
My parents took a long summer vacation (3 or 4 weeks) to Europe during 1965. My mom really liked the children's sty;es she saw there girls' clothes were not that differnt, but boys' clothes were. Here is a good example of the sort of the scene my parents saw in London. Our outfits changed dramatically after that trip. My mother was so thrilled that she insisted I wear my hair like these two boys. When she came home she changed all of her thoughts about short hair. Until then she had the barber cut our hair short. Suddenly she wanted us to wear it long like Europeans. She began buying clothes similar to them. Espadrilles and not the T-bar as she tried that 5 years earlier and it did not work. I do remember wearing shorts and my mother wanting me to wear the knee socks which I quickly pulled down so they looked like everyone else’s. She also liked the bell bottom pants and wilder colors that she saw in Europe. At that point my brother and I were no longer dressed alike. I remember she bought sweaters and other clothes for us which we continued to wear for some time. I would have been around 7- 8 and my brother 10-11 years old at the time.
For birthday parties and special occasions I would wear suits. It was still common to dress up for these occasion, at least among our friends, although conventions were changing. Until I was old enough to attend school, they were short suits. I had a white Eton suit with suspender shorts. I wore it with a blouse with a rounded collar Peter Pan collar. I recently saw a picture of myself in one at around the age of 3 and another image of myself even younger still in diapers in a similar outfit (all white Eton suit with Peter Pan collar). Apparently I wore short suits until sometime after I started school, kindergarten or first grade when my mother bought me my first long pants suit. I was around 5 years old, perhaps 5 and a half. Here I am at age 6 years a few hours prior to a formal affair no longer wearing short pants (figure 1). The occasion was my older brother's Bar Mitzvah. I loved the idea of the suit as it was identical to my father's or at least I thought so. That made me think I was more grown up. However, had my mother bought me another short pants suit, I would not have cared unless my cousins or brothers had teased me. The suit looked big on me which was to allow me to get some wear out of it before I outgrew it. I heard my mother complain years later that she dressed my brother and me too much like a miniature adult rather than a child. But from then on I wore suits with bow or cross ties until I was around 8 when I was the only boy wearing a suit to someone’s birthday party and the mother jokingly suggested I wear a bib. After that, my mother never suggested a suit for me again. We were Jewish so we wore stylish suits for Bar Mitzvahs for mine own and my relatives. I remember being 5 years old and wearing a tuxedo for one of them. The only time my father came with us to picking out clothes was when we wore suits and that was more because we bought them at a place where my father bought suits rather than a national chain.
You may or may not notice the tie I am wearing in my new suit here (fuf=gure 1). The tie was not a regular tie or even a regular bow tie. The tie crossed at the center forming the bottom of an x. I am not certain what you would call that but it was stylish that year. [HBC note. We notice the ties a lot in Europe at the time. We have called them a cross tie, but we are unsure what they were called at the time either in America or Europe.] I remember when I was very young having bow ties that clipped on that I could manage. By third or fourth grade, that was unthinkable and all of my ties tied and were regular. I do not remember when I switched but the switch was related to physical development (the ability to tie a tie by myself.
When I was a boy I wore T-shirts and briefs. My dad wore boxers and T -shirts. When I was in grade (primary) school all but two boys wore briefs and t-shirts. The two boys although very different wore boxers and athletic shirts for most of the year and long underwear in the winter. I could tell because they were the only two with long underwear on during gym. I assumed they were thermal bottoms but for all I knew, they could have been long johns. I was friendly with one of them and his younger brother wore t shirts and briefs. Also a small minority of boys during most of the 1960s wore fancy front broadcloth briefs with a backing. Interesting enough, all of the briefs we wore had double fabric seats. I do not remember anyone wearing Jockey brand briefs as they would have been different until junior high and by then my parents had traveled to Europe so my clothes became fancier including my underwear. Some of the older boys, a greater percentage than boys my age wore boxer shorts but that was still a small minority. I only know that because I was on the swim team and we would all dress in the same locker room. I remember being surprised that high school boys wore boxers as my brother did not.
By Junior high I wore colored bikini style briefs which I remember were different and I must have been early on that curve because one or two friends during gym made a comment about them but within a year it was no big deal because although it was still a minority many boys wore colored briefs by then. I remember they were stylish and slightly more expensive so most of us wore plain white. But my mother liked to follow fashions so my briefs went from high wasted white briefs to bikini style jockey briefs. The biggest disadvantage was that the bikini briefs did not have a fly front that opened so I had to pull the waist band down to relieve myself. The inconvenience could not have been much because if it had been I would have forced my mother to switch back. So, I had two styles of underwear white high rise and colored bikinis.
Sometime in high school boxer shorts were added to my repertoire. I still mostly wore briefs but I had a few pairs of boxers too. I no longer remember why but I suspect my mother was once again at the cutting edge of fashion as they became much more popular about a decade later. At that age, I doubt I would have admitted to anyone my mother still chose any of my clothes, even if it were only socks and underwear, though she probably bought more, I just do not remember.
Underwear preferences appeared to have regional preferences. When I was young and mostly in Northeast everyone seemed to dress identically. White briefs and t-shirts. When I was fourteen and traveled to France, about four hundred of us stayed in dormitories, A significant minority of boys wore boxer shorts and not briefs. Most of those boys were fifteen and older and lived in Texas, Pennsylvania and other Midwest or Western states. I did not study the situation at all, nor did I really look but it was unmistakable that some boys wore boxers from those locales. I remember being surprised and then thinking that I had never been exposed to people from all over the country before.
Those who wore boxers seemed not to wear pajamas which was foreign to me. Since we had communal bathrooms it was obvious what preference of underwear someone wore when they did not wear pajamas. And from my memory, all of the people who did not wear pajamas wore boxers.
I do remember that a few French boys lived with us in the dormitories too. They wore very skimpy briefs more like bikinis. I remember one made some joking comment about wearing boxer shorts but that was about it. Someone shared the comment with me, I did not actually witness it but believe the fellow said something like “Do you want to box in your boxer shorts.” The rhyme stuck with me.
My first year at college confirmed that belief as there were people from all over the country. And many of the teens wore boxers from either rural areas or from California and Hawaii. I remember thinking that I would not have guessed anyone from warm climates would have worn climates would have worn anything but briefs but they did. A Significant minority wore boxers and a few wore what we today call boxer-briefs. I do not know what they call it.
Mostly I wore oxfords to school or sneakers. The shoes became progressively more casual as I got older. In summer I wore plastic thongs at the beach or pool and sneakers. I remember my mother had a friend from Europe, I believe it was Denmark and for a short while she had me wear t-strap sandals. I was in kindergarten and found them very embarrassing. The shoes were worn with white turn down socks were for girls so I did all I could to wear them out quickly. Once they were worn, she never bought me another pair again. By high school I remember wearing sandals more adult styled to school without thinking twice. I also had tennis shoes for tennis and deck shoes for sailing. A friend had a boat. I liked the deck shoes so I wore them often. I remember liking penny loafers because you did not have to tie the shoes but my mother more than me chose my shoes till I was in high school.
I remember having saddle shoes in high school and in grade school as fashions for them came in style. In grade school my mother chose them and I remember one time they were blue and another time the saddle shoe was suede like. Both times the soles were rubbery and not leather like most of my shoes.
In the early days of school, I had black oxford style shoes to wear which I had to polish more than once a week. I also remember having hush puppy tie shoes and being around 5th or 6th grade before wearing loafers. I preferred the loafers because there was not an issue with tying the shoes. You could easily slip them off or on. I remember some boys could cause their shoes to fly off their feet. Mine never did. Around the time of high school wearing dress shoes to school was out of fashion.
We slept in pajamas both winter and summer. Most of them were knit ski type when I was young and sometime around 10 or 12 they became regular style for summer and ski type for winter. I also remember flannel pajamas being both warm and soft. They were often button front though I have a vague memory of a few being middy style which went over your head. For some reason I preferred the coat style because I thought it was easier to get into and out of. I always wore underwear under the pajamas. When I was very young there were years my mother bought shortie pajamas. They came with short legs rather than legs down to the ankle. They were usually middy style and in seersucker like materials.
When I was younger than a size 8 I wore footed pajamas. They had plastic soles but otherwise were ski style pajamas. Ours were usually either yellow, light blue or light green. The cuffs were always contrasting in darker shades. I remember that some of the footed pajamas had snap fasteners in the elastic waistband. I do not recall when they no longer fit but I wore footed pajamas without the snap fasteners for at least a year or two. I remember liking them because they were warm on cold winter days. I also remember being six years old or so and in the spring finding them very sweaty in my feet. I think I took a pair of scissors and cut the toes out or something for relief. That was probably the last time my mother bought that type or pretty close to the last time.
Since I could only wear a swim suit for a season or two before outgrowing them, I wore different styles till junior high when I swam competitively and wore speedos exclusively. My mother would not buy me swimsuits since the swim team provided swimsuits. Prior to that, they ranged from cotton knit suits to cotton boxer style. All of the suits had cotton supporters and drawstrings.
I came across a family snapshot of myself and it reminded me of the downside of my mother’s attempts at keeping her children stylishly dressed. I had a chuckle remembering them. And it adds a little insight intgo trendy styles during the period for HBC.
I am not certain where to fit this in but thought it would be helpful and indicative of my mother and her attempt to be stylish (though my grandmother sewed clothes to stay stylish into her early-90s). I remember shopping with my mother for jeans sometime when I was around 12-14 years old. She would look around and present styles she thought I would like. On this occasion she chose denim jeans with a slight bell bottom and a drop front like a sailor pants. It seemed to fit and my mother was very pleased with it. It did not take me long to realize that unbuttoning 6 or more buttons to relieve myself was problematic. I was used to zippers or boxer style pants that you just pulled down so relieving myself was quick and easy. Not with these pants. I have a memory of near panic once or twice with these pants if I waited too long. After the second time, I wore the pants on fewer occasions except for when my mother would bring it out for me to wear. On one of those occasions a friend commented that I should wear the pants backwards as the drop front looked like a drop seat. The friend commented about it in front of my mother and when he left she said he was probably correct. She never asked me to wear those jeans again.
In the late 1960s Nehru styled shirts were becoming popular so my mother bought my brother and I matching shirts in a mustard yellow almost orange color. My mother was all enthusiastic about it and I liked that it was different but did not realize how impractical the shirt was. It was short sleeve with two buttons close to each other down the front. I remember thinking what a pain it was to button and unbutton the shirt when I wanted to put it on or take it off. I was glad when I outgrew that shirt.
When I was very young most boys wore crew cut hairstyles then a little longer with pompadours and finally long hair began to appear in the late-1960s early-70s.
Around 1970 I was one of the youngest children to go with a group of American children to spend the summer in France. There were around 300 of us from all over the US. There were people from NY, California, Pittsburg, various cities in Texas, Ohio, the Northeast and Midwest. I saw that people from different parts of the country. The Texans wore very tight jeans the most while this was the first time I noticed that not all boys wore pajamas to bed. Also the boys from Pittsburgh, Texas and Ohio wore boxer shorts mostly which was new for me to see. Their clothes and haircuts were more like mid 1960s while the Northeast and California boys wore longer hair and more modern clothes. There was a big difference between Paris styles and the country styles. The French boys around my age ages 13 to 15 all wore very brief shorts. Also none of them seemed to wear denim but some other material. Their swimsuits (it was summer) was very brief knit swimsuits much more brief than most Americans. They also all seemed to wear sandals of different types.
From about 2nd or 3rd grade on we had gym uniforms. Prior to that dressing was too difficult and the time allocated for gym 45 minutes 2 or 3 times a week required us to change and changing by ourselves was too difficult in kindergarten and first grade. So at that time we changed from shoes to sneakers but wore our regular clothes. The shoes would be lined up at the side of the gym by the bleachers.
Sometime after 1st grade we had gym uniforms to wear. For us it was sneakers, boxer shorts and a T-shirt. The shirt and shorts were in school colors of Green and white. I know the shorts were dark green and they lacked any pockets of a twill like material. The shorts were also very brief in length which was style throughout the 1960s and early 1970s. I believe the shirts were gray but I am not certain anymore.
I remember we spent a few minutes each time changing from regular clothing to gym shorts and shirts. I also remember that in Junior high there were showers and the gym teachers spoke to us about showering, but I do not remember anyone actually showering until high school. The amount of time allocated to get dressed or undressed did not leave enough time to shower. Once we were in high school, people could shower for before school or after school activities or a few did not have class after gym and they may shower.
Most people, in the early grades, also changed from dress socks to white cotton socks but that changed as white socks became more popular with regular clothes in the late 1960s and early 1970s. I also remember that socks were often argyle or had fancy patterns in the earlier grades but that style faded as I moved up to higher grades which seemed to coincide with ever more casual dress styles. At some point probably late grade school, most of my socks were white thick athletic style and shoes for school were mostly sneakers.
I recall some winter clothes items.
As a young child for dress occasions I wore a legging set with a brim hat with earflaps and a chin strap. I remember I thought the hat with earflaps was babyish as my older brother did not wear it but the leggings I thought were interesting because the elastic foot strap could be snapped and it made a sound but did not hurt as it snapped on my shoe. I think I have a vague memory of suspenders being worn with them. The coat matched and had very large buttons which I remember were difficult for me to get into the buttonholes but were easy to manipulate. The coat was double breasted in tan (camel hair one year), tweed gray another and navy blue a third year. I believe I wore mittens with the coat. I only wore this outfit with dress clothes and the leggings were designed for short pants suits so when I wore this outfit I also wore short pants suits. We would wear rubber boots to protect our shoes
At some time around first grade or so, I was wearing long pants suits. I remember the wool was terribly itchy and I complained a great deal unless they were lined with nylon. Some suits were some were not. With those clothes I wore a long overcoat probably a miniature version of my father’s overcoat. I remember they were pea coat style in navy colored wool with elongated buttons (I think double breasted again). Some of the coats came with linings to make them even warmer. At least one had quilted lining and was in a bright red. I remember liking the red shiny lining. I remember wearing rubber boots to protect my shoes.
After that our coats were more regular overcoats of either tweed or camel hair. We would wear them with leather gloves not mittens. It was unlikely I wore rubber boots to protect my shoes but if the snow was deep enough I wore snow boots over the shoes probably until sometime between ten and twelve years old.
Snowsuits had hooded coats that often were quilted. We still were dressed in hats with earflaps and chin straps which to me was a sign of still being a little child. As I grew older they had detachable hoods which I would often not use as I did not like that the hoods interfered with my site of vision. I would wear either knit caps, when it was fashionable or hats with some worn with ear muffs. I do remember once wearing something that probably looked like a helmet and I thought that was very juvenile as it had a chin strap and no visor.
I remember my mother knitting us ski caps with long tops and pom-poms. I remember liking them because you could hit the pom-pom and part of the hat would fly to the other side of your head. Writing it now, it sounds stupid. I remember skiing one year with it on.
My earliest snow suits were probably one piece jacket and pants. Then the two were separated and the jacket was always long with fabric over the zipper or overlap where the buttons were to prevent drafts. I remember one brand that was bought over several years was called Mighty Mac or something close to it. I wore those until around junior high when my parents bought us shearling coats that were very warm. I say us, as I think one was purchased for my older brothers too! When I was even older my father bought us fur coats which we wore for a year or two and then they went out of style. I do not think they were real fur, or at least, I hope not. My father bought Russian styled sheep skin hats that may or may not have had earflaps.
After that my parents purchased down jackets for us. I remember looking like the Michelin man in one of them it was so stuffed with down. I did use it for skiing and thought it was warm. The coat was a very light beige and reached down to my ankles.
I also remember skate pants that were very tight and had elastic ankle holders to keep the pants down. I used them for skiing and they worked for that too. I was probably around 14 and I believe those pants were handed down to me from my oldest brother.
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