|
HBC at this time has few details on bib-front short pants. We believe that they appeared in the 1920s. The first bib-front shorts appeared to have been overalls. Later bib-front shorts appeared without the overall styling. They were particularly popular in Europe, especially France. We also note them in America through the 1940s, but afterwards they were only worn by todlers. Even in Europe they were worn by youngr boys. Common materials included corduroy and later denim. They are similar in many ato suspender short, although bib-front shorts were mostly a style for playwear and not commonly wore for dressy occasions as suspender shorts could be worn. A French reader reports that the small size were buttoned at the back and the other in front. Bib-front shorts like suspnder shorts did not havet flies. Most bib-front shorts were cut. He reports that in France, short pantss for boys generally did not have flys until about size 8-10 years.
Bib-front shorts apper to have originated from Amrican bib-front overalls. Overalls in the late 19th and early 20th century were widely worn in rural America. In the 1920s through early 30s they were worn by boys, teens, and men unselfconsciously in rural America. By the late 1930s, however, American teens, even in rural areas, were starting to prefer pants that weren't so hick. Once there started to be an age differentiation, and the boy-in-overalls look came to be sentimentalized, the children's clothing manufacturers started producing a more specifically juvenile version of overalls. When overalls were workwear, even for boys, the attachment of the straps to the bib had to be durable. Even in the depths of the Depression the attachment was a complicated metal slider and hook. The juvenile version that started showing up around 1940 just used a simple button. It was worn only by boys under 10. There even appeared an early version of shortalls (you might prefer the term bib-shorts) for the under-8 crowd. Once that juvenilization started, the maximum age for a boy wearing overalls took a nose-dive. In some rural areas a few older boys wore
them as late as the early 50s, but not many. By the end of the 50s they were
rare even among kindergartners.
No clothing item as assumed more importance in a boy's wardrobe during the second half of the 20th century than blue jeans. The first jeans worn by boys, although it was not a boys' style, was overalls. I have collected relatively little information on this style. It is esentially Aerican. It was worn mostly in rural Americaas work clothes, but in the 1990s has become stylish for both boys and girls. One of the central symbols of modern American culture are blue jeans. They were in fact the creation of a 19th
century German Jewish immigrant--Levi Strauss. Levi Strauss overalls began appearing in the 1870s and by the 1880s had become enormously popular as work clothes. The original jeans were workclothes and the idea that they would one day be fashionable would have been inconceivable to 19th Century children. The most popular style of jeans were initially overalls. By the late 19th Century they were widely worn by farmers, miners, and laborers all over America. Boys in rural America commonly went to school in overalls through the 1930s.
HBC at this time has few details on bib-front short pants. We believe that they appeared in the 1920s. We believe the first ones were overalls. They did not become common in Europe until after World War II.
We note a young Canadian boy wring rather long bib-front shoets, probably in the 1940s.
We note a very young Belgian boy in the 1950s. We notean older boy wearing bib from shorts in Spain during the 1950s. Bib-front shorts had rather a working-class work, presumably because of the association with overalls. Gradually this association weakened. We notice even royalty wer wearing bib-front shorts by the 1960s. An example here was the Luxemburg princes. A French reader writes, "The Quelle 1973 bib-front short pants (n° 10) is similar to a style French boys commonly wore. Many French boys 6-10 yrs had this sort of bib-front short pants under their smock in 1950-1960s. They buttoned at the each side , bib with 2 buttons or a metal system. The shorts did not havre a fly. There were 2 pockets at the each side. The younger boy had the suspenders butoned at the back." There was a revival of bib-top shorts in the 1980s. They were worn by teenagers in the 1980s and early 90s. The boys's overalls tended toi have long legs.
We have very limted information on foreign language terms for bib-front shorts and trousrs at this time. Bib-front shorts is of course an American term. We note a wide range of terms used in different countries. It has proven a very difficult term to translate, in part because there are various English language terms an connotations. This is reflected in the various submissions by our non-English speakers concerning appropriate foreign language terms. We notice German Hosenschürze, but there may be another term for bib-front shorts.
Bib-front shorts were originally an American style. After World War II they became popular in Europe, especially France. I find it interesting that European boys first started wearing overalls after World War II. They were of the juvenile style that originated in America. We also notice them in Canada. We note a young Canadian boy wring rather long bib-front shoets, probably in the 1940s.
In Europe they were almost always shorts and not the bib-longs that many American boys wore. There are many examples of bib-front shorts in various countries archived on HBC. We notice German Hosenschürze in the 1940s. These look much like bib-front shorts, but are actually more like shortalls. We note a Spanish boy at school in 1950-51. We also notice them in Luxemburg.
We also note them in America through the 1940s, but afterwards they were only worn by todlers. Even in Europe they were worn by youngr boys, but for several years by older boys than in America. This reflects the fact that older boys in Europe wore shirts than in America. We notice European boys wearing bin-front shorts up to about 10-11, perhaps even 12 years old. We note a Spanish boy who looks to be 11-12 years old wearing bib-front shorts to school in 1950-51.
Common materials included corduroy and later denim.
A French reader reports that the small size were buttoned at the back and the other in front. Bib-front shorts like suspnder shorts did not havet flies. Most bib-front shorts were cut. He reports that in France, short pants for boys generally did not have flys until about size 8-10 years.
They are similar in many ways to suspender short, although bib-front shorts were mostly a style for playwear and not commonly wore for dressy occasions as suspender shorts could be worn. Suspender shorts were short pants held up by suspenders either sewn on the shorts or attached by buttons. The suspenders are not elasticised, but usually made of the same material as the shorts. The shorts themseves were usually cut briefly as the style was mostly for little boys. They were more popular in Europe, especially France and
Germany, than in America, but younger boys did war them. The suits for younger boy often had suspender short pants.
Another related style to both bib-front shorts and suspender shorts was shortalls. We have, however, limited information about the origins of shortalls. Shortalls are a one-piece short pants garmet worn by small boys in the 1960s-70s. It was based on the word
overalls (the original name for jeans), but with short rather than long pants. Levi Straus came out with a version of its jeans for children in the 1920s. The shortalls appearing in the late 1950s and early 1960s, however, were not made of denim and disd not have bib fronts. I have no information about who first made shortalls or when they first appeatred, but it does appear to have been the early 1950s. Shortalls were popularized by President Kennedy's son John when he was dressed in them during the early 1960s.
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Return to the Main short pants type page]
[Return to the Suspender shorts alternatives]
[Introduction]
[Activities]
[Biographies]
[Chronology]
[Clothing styles]
[Countries]
[Literary]
[Bibliographies]
[Contributions]
[FAQs]
[Glossaries]
[Satellite sites]
[Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]
