Figure 1.--Here we see Mary Frances and John Marvin Halley, Jr., we think in Calhoun County, Florida about 1937. Short pants were commonly worn in America at the time, but they were more common in the South than the North. Many boys preferred knickers or long pants. Notice that the shorts here are self-belted shorts.

American boys did not commonly wear the short pants that became widely accepted in England and Europe, especially in the years after the 1920s. Shorts appeared in America in the early 1900s, but they were not at first widely worn except by younger boys--even by Boy Scouts. Through the 1920s and 30s they were worn by some boys, but most American boys wore knickers. They were also more common in the South and by boys from more affluent families. Older boys never wore shorts, except for atletics like basketball or tennis. By the 1940s, long pants were becoming increasingly common. Short pants became even less common as dress wear with a suit in the 1950s, but by the 1960s began to grow in popularity as casual summer wear. New styles of shorts appeared in the 1970s and they began to be worn in shorter styles. Shorts by the 1980s became very commonly worn. Shorts continued to be commonly worn in the 1990s, but they began to become long and baggy by the mid-1990s.

The 19th Century

American boys like European boys mostly wore long pants in the fitst half of the 19th century. This began to change in the 1860s with more boys wearing kneepants. These kneepants became increasingly common in the 1870s, but were at first often cut at calf lenhth. By the 1880s knee-length kneepants, normally woth ornamental butoons at the leg hem became more common. Actual knee-length kneepants became more common in the 1880s. Kneepants had beconme very common for boys by the 1880s and by the 1890s for quite old boys. Short pants had been worn by small European boys in the late 19th century, but this was less common in America. It is unclear to HBC why a shorter-length of pants or trousers for boys became so widely accepted in America and Europe in the late 19th century. Before the 1860s boys and men had commonly worn the same type of pants, although boys did begin wearing long pants before men. There are periodic changes in styles, that could be a factor. Another factor that could be significant is that boys were less likely to rip the knees out of kneepants. That certainly was a factor given the cost of clothing. Another factor may be a desire of parents to dress children and even older boys in a destinctive way. We are unsure just how important this was.

The 20th Century

Shorts were adopted by the British Scouts in 1906 and after World War I became very common for European boys of all ages. This was much less true in America. Quite old boys might wear kniclers, but shorts were generally seen as more suitable for younger boys. Knickers were very common for American boys, bit less so in the 1930s. Short pants were even less common, although they were more commonly worn in the southern states with the warm climate. Short pants declined in popularity even further in the 1950s. The old custom of keeping boys in short pants until puberty went quite out of fashion in America after World War II, and although little boys in some upper-class families were seen dressed in short pants suits and a few elite boys' schools did maintain their tradition of short pants uniforms, the common attitude from the 50s into the 70s was to allow a boy to wear long trousers. Even pre-schoolers often wore long pants. Only in the 1960s did the attitudes of American boys begin to change and shorts began to become acceptable for casual wear by boys of all ages. Shorts are now "cool" here as daily casual dress for both men and boys. Shorts became the "in" fashion. In the 1970s and 80s quite short shorts were worn, but by the 1990s long, baggu shorts (at least for boys) became all the rage. Here in America the craze is to look (or at least affect looking) youthfull by appearing athletic which is heavily exploited by the fashion sports industries. The current style fad of long, baggy shorts appears to have been accepted all over the world, except the Islamic world where shorts are seen as immodest.

The 21st Century

2000s

Reader Comments

A British reader writes, "I’ve just read this page and until I came to HBC I never realised that American boys wore short trousers, I’d always been under the impression that long trousers were the always the norm for American boys. The only exceptions I came across were in such things as the film ‘Escapade in Japan’ and the ‘Leave it to Beaver’ episode “Beaver’s Short Pants”. As you’re probably aware, the wearing of short trousers during the first half of the 20th century was more common in the UK than in America. I wore shorts until I ! was 12½ and I remember seeing American feature films when I was younger where a boy in the movie would always be wearing either jeans or long trousers so this probably accounts for my misconception." America of course is a big country. When I was growing up in the 1950s, after about age 5, I never wore short pants. Neither did other boys in my neighborhood. Certainly never to school. But shorts were worn, especially in the South and among more affluent families. All this varied over time which is what we are trying to develop here. I thinkn it is understanable that our Britidsh reader got the impression fromn movies and television that American boys did not wear short pants. That was definitly how boys were generally costumed, alwaysearing long pamts with few exceotions. This contunued even intob the c1970s and 80s when bshiorts became muvch more common. We are not sure just why this was.

Created: March 16, 2000
Last updated: 3:07 AM 6/4/2007