Figure 1.--This snapshot was taken in a residential area of Fresno, California in 1955. There were in the 1950s sunstantial differences in the popularity of short pants. This included regional, demographic, ans social class differences. And as you can see here there were also differences among individual families.

Short pants were still worn when dressing up in the earlys 1950s, but this was much less common at the end of the decade, except for very young boys. Here there were notable class differences. Shorts were also worn for cassual summerwear, but less so than the 1940s and by younger boys. We are not entirely sure whu this shift occurred. This varied significantly around the country. Here both climatic and social class factors were involved. One reader writes, "I grew up in Washington D.C. and we all wore jeans rather than short pants, even when it got hot in the Summer. I remember when we moved south and was surprised to see boys my age weaing shorts." A HBC reader, Eric, whose father was in the Air Force remembers wearing shorts as a boy, but notes that they were much more common in Italy tham America. Actually I recall that when we moved to Montgomery, Alabama near an Air Force base that the boys from many of the Air Force families commonly wore shorts. Shorts were also more common in California. There seems to have also been a difference between suburbs and cities. Shorts were also worn at summer camps. There seems to have been some greater popularity for shorts, at least casual sjorts by the end of the decade. This shift seems to have occurred first on college campuses with the popularity of Bermuda shorts.

Created: 5:42 PM 9/19/2009
Last updated: 5:42 PM 9/19/2009