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We have found some catalogs pages and advertisements as well as patterns which we can not attribute to specific years. We can, however with a substantial level of accuracy attribute them to decades. Thus we are adding these images here as garments that seem to date from the 1920s, but which we can not with definitive enter into a particular year. We are fairly sure, however, about the decade.
We notice a range of outfit for younger boys. They are notably more simple than what was common before World War I in the late-19th and early-20th century. This includes todlers (1-3 years), pre-school sizes (4-5 years), and early primary sizes (6-8 years). Many outfits crossed over the three age groups, such as todlers and pre-schoolers or pre-schoolers and early primary years. One item for todlers is a pattern for rompers from the Ladies Home Journal. We see a Tom Sawyer ad for a sailor tunic. It is undated, but was surely published in the 1920s, probably the early-20s. Another item is a McCalls pattern for a Little Boy's Suit which looks like a pre-school outfit. The style of the pattern illustration suggests the early-20s. The term suit referred to the fact the top and bottom matched or was coordinated and not that it was a formal outfit.
Here is a page from 1920s Arnold Constable catalog showing inclemet weather gear for younger children, including leggings. snow pants of knit wool, and rainwear. Arnold Constable & Company was a New York department store chain. It was the oldest department store in America and one of the mot prestigious store participating in the carriage trade.
Another Tom Sawyer ad shows two boys wearing blouses and knickers. We also do not have the date for this ad, but like the ad here would have been published about 1920.
We notice an undated McCalls pattern for men and boys one-piece pajamas. They look rather like the 1920s to us. They do not seem to have been very popular. Fashion magazines still made references to European styles, usually either Britain or France (figure 1).
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