* American mail order catalogs with boys clothes -- 1948







American Mail Order and Advertisments for Boys Clothings: 1948


Figure 1.--We note a boy's Simplicity pattern from 1948, size 4. It is for a coat, cap, and leggings to be worn in cold weather. Apparently they assumed little boys would still wear shorts for dress in the winter and thus leggings were needed.

American mail order catalogs offer a very useful time-line on changing fashion trends. Knickers were still occassionaly worn, but had become quite rare and are absent from mail order catalog whch now offered mostly long or short pants. Long pants were becoming increasingly common. Younger boys still wore short pants, especially in the summer. Snowsuits and leggings were worn by little boys in cold weather. We note a boy's Simplicity pattern from 1948, size 4. It is for a coat, cap, and leggings to be worn in cold weather. We notice various styles of casual clothes for boys including overalls and jeans. Boys from about 6-18 wore the same styles. Briefs had become quite common as underwear.

Toddler Clothes


Shirts

We notice stripped T-shirts were very popular for playwear. They were done in many didderent colors and wide or narrow stripes. And some boys wore them to school. There were both short- and long-sleeved versions. Retailers refered to them as basque shirts, a name that disappears in the 1950s. Here are striped 'T' shirts offered by Haines in a Life Magazine ad.

Coats

Most boys wore jackets for winter cold eeather wear. We see overcoats being worn by boys from affluent families.

Simplicity suit pattern

We note a boy's Simplicity pattern from 1948, size 4. It is for a coat, cap, and leggings to be worn in cold weather (figure 1). Apparently they assumed little boys would still wear shorts for dress in the winter and thus leggings were needed. The leggings could be made with suspenders, and the coat is shown with both lapels and a pointed collar. A HBC reader writes, "The simplicity pattern with leggings shown in the picture was still worn in the Greater Metropolitan New York area into the early 1960s. But I do not remember seeing too many boys wearing short pants suits." The outfits have an upper-class look to us, yet wealthy mothers would be unlikely to do their own sewing.

Suits

Suits were not as commonly worn sdthy were before the War, as in World War II, the War genrated an inpetus toward casual, functional wear. Suits were more common than today, but not as common as they once were. The boys here are wearing overcoats, but would have been wearing suits underneath (figure 1). This would have been styles worn by boys from affluent families. Younger boys wore Eton suits without lapels, mostly with short pants. The Eton suits were often done up to 7 years of age. Some of the younger boys wore standard lapel jackets with long pants. Older boys wore standard lapel single-breasted jackets. Some were done with shirts,but mostly with lomg pants often called longies. Knicker suits were no longer common. We note ads for Twigs suits. They were produced by Wm. Schwartz & Co. The Eton suits were pictured with both sports collars and Eton collars. These were not proper Eton detachable collars, but blouses dome with Eton-style collars. We also see sports jackets and leisure suits. Sports jackets were standalone jackers withnout the matching pants. with two contrasting fabrrics were popular. This is a style we do notb see before the War. We see many boys wearing them. We don't see many boys wearing the leisure suitts in the photographic record.

Pants

Knickers were still occassionaly worn, but had become quite rare and are absent from mail order catalog whch now offered mostly long or short pants. Long pants were becoming increasingly common. Younger boys still wore short pants, especially in the summer. We notice various styles of casual clothes for boys including overalls and jeans. A good example is Sears casual pants offered in the Spring and Summer catalog for 1948, showing three styles of boys' casual wear. Two of the styles are for boys from 6 to 16, while the third style is for boys from 8 to 18.

Hosiery

We see knee socks being offered, but they were more common dir girls than boys, in part because biys were mostly wearing long pants. Ankel ocjs were more common for boys and girls. Boys wearing shorts also mostly wore ankel socks. Catalig offerings did not destinguish between boy and girls. Theynwerecommonly advertised and in the catalogs, but not so commonly worn by boys. I was born in 1943, but never recall having knee socks. Long stockings were no longer commonly offered.

Underwear

Briefs had become quite common as underwear.

Carter�s Briefs for Men and Boys

Briefs had by the 1940s become the primary underwear pants worn by American boys. Carters was one of the principal American companies mabufacturing wunderwear. This ad follows the favored father-son formula with the boy wearing a junior version of his Dad�s underwear--a knitted sleeveless undershirt with cotton briefs. There is also a toddler�s version of the briefs.






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Created: September 7, 2003
Last updated: 7:30 AM 2/12/2020