Figure 1.--This unidentified boy is wearing single strap hose supporter to hold up his stockings. American hose supporters for boys and girls in the 1930s were almost invariably double-pendant supporters, usually pinned on to an underwaist or else attached to a garter waist. This boy seems to be wearing a Strapsleibchen, which would make him German or other continental country (Czech, Polish, Swiss, or perhaps one of the Baltic countries). He most likely is German, but there is no indication on the photohtaph.

While there are only five principal categories of stocking supporters, many other terms were used. This was especially true of the United States where long stockings were commonly worn and mother tended to purchases support garments rther than depend on ad hoc arrangements such as saftey pins. The many companies involved tend to use the basic terms somewhat differently. Long stockings were of course worn in many other countries and some of these countries developed stocking support devices and their own terminology. Here a few countries were especially important, such as Germany where long stockings were al important and which affected clothing and fashion conventions throughout central Europe. We have attempted to use the five basic terms to create some order out of the confusion. These are terms used in contemporry advertisements and trade publications but not always with the consistency that we would like. As if this confusion were not sufficient, there are also different terms used over time and in different countries. Here we will list the different terms and indicate into which basic cattegory they fit.

Garters (Various Countries)

This category includes round garters worn to hold up knee socks and hose supporters with button-and-loop clasps (for the tops of stockings) worn to support long stockings and suspended from some form of a waist or from another underwear garment. Garter (or gartier) is of historic origin. The word appears to have entered the English language from Old North French in the early 14th century. The word was derived from the French word describing the bend of the knee. It came to be the symbol for an English knightly order--the Order of the Garter. This kind of garter was worn around the leg just below the knee. Garters were worn by both children and adults. There are two basic types. One was an elastic band worn around the leg. This type was commonly used by children to hold us kneesocks. Scouts were noted for adding a colored tab to the round garter. This type of garter was commonly used before kneesocks with elasticised tops became popular. The round garter was also sometimes worn above the knee for holding up long stockings, but this was discouraged by doctors and health specialists because it restricted circulation, and hose supporters were recommended instead. The other type of garter was the hose supporter (or in England "suspender")--an elastic strap suspended from an undergarment. Supporters were worn by both girls and boys to hold up long stockings. Most hose supporters in America were fashioned in a Y shape with a single elastic strap descending from the waist line and then dividing into a shorter double strap with clasps at the end for attachment to the stockings. Hose supporters were originally buttoned onto underwear, but, later, buttons were almost universally replaced by safety pins for attachment to loops or pin-tubes on the underwear. Supporters could be adjusted for length by means of a buckle. Hose supporters were sold separately and could be bought to replace detachable supporters already supplied by other garments such as garter waists.

Garter Waists (United States)

Garter Waist is a generic term that includes almost any separate garment designed specifically to support long stockings and provides a means of attaching hose supporters. The term "waist" is used because most garter waists have a waist band to which the supporters are attached. Not all garter waists, however, have waist bands. Some are constructed so that the garters are suspended directly from the shoulders. Garter waists have been referred to by a variety of names--"waist supporters," "garter waists," "Dr. Parker waists," "skeleton waists," "shoulder garters, "combination belt and supporters," etc. Garter waists can be just a simple waist band with garters attached (a garter belt) although such garments in America were only for women and girls whereas, in Germany, they were also worn by older boys. The term, garter waist, didn't come into general use until about the 1920s and was most common in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. The term "hose supporter" can also cause confusion because it applied to any device to hold up long stockings--i.e., either the individual garter sold separately (as in category 1 above) or to a garment with hose supporters already attached. The Sears garter waist ad for 1939 (Hose Supporters and Suspenders) shows garter waists with supporters already attached in addition to hose supporters sold separately. These latter are pin-on garters which could be pinned onto a pantywaist or a waist union suit or could be purchased to replace the detachable supporters on a garter waist. Technically speaking, suspender waists (the following category; see the Samson and Kazoo examples) are garter waists also because they are waists with garters attached. Occasionally one sees the term "suspender waist" used for skeleton waists or Dr. Parker style garter waists because these garments have suspender straps. But HBC is reserving the term "Garter Waist" for garments which are worn entirely as underwear and are not basically a modification of suspenders for trousers. The term garter waist became current in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, but garments of the same type made in earlier periods, regardless of how they were then designated, are really garter waists under other names. The term garter waist has no gender significance because it was worn equally by boys and girls, whereas the Suspender Waist (see following category) was mainly a boy's garment because of the trousers attachment.

Hose Supporters

This was the term used in many contemporary magazine advertisements and catalogs. In its simplest and commonest form, this term simply refers to the pin-on garters with button-and-loop clasps that boys and girls wore to hold up long stockings. These hose supporters were usually attached to underwaists or waist union suits or were part of other garments such as garter waists or suspender waists. The most common variety with brand names such as Hickory, Butler, Velvet Grip, or Buster Brown were made in a Y-shape--that is, a single elastic strap which divided at the bottom into a double strap with the clasps at the ends. The garment has four short hose supporters attached, two in front and two in back.

Korselett (Germany)

Here we have an advertisement from an unnamed German clothing catalog dated 1940. It is referred to as a "Kinder Korselett" or child's corslet rather than a Leibchen. It coresponds, however, closely to Leibchen. The model here and the styling of the garment is clearly for a girl. Although the dimunative of corset is used, we see none of the stays that would relate this to a corset. Thus we think this may be essentially a Leibchen described with a different term, but we are not yet sure.

Liberty Bodice (Britain)

The "Liberty Bodice" was the British version of the German Leibchen. This garment was fairly standard for children in the United Kingdom from about 1908 until the later 1920s although it was more favored by school girls than by boys. It was a bodice made of heavy cotton with reinforced straps over the shoulders that came all the way down to the waist. Buttons were usually sewn onto the straps for the support of other clothing. It didn't normally come with hose supporters already attached, but elastic tapes or "suspenders" (the British term for hose supporters) could be fastened onto the straps by means of buttons for the support of long stockings. Most schoolboys older than 8 or 9 years began wearing knee socks with short pants shortly before World War I and therefore no longer needed the "liberty bodice"; but girls continued to wear them up through the 1930s and 1940s until about the age of 14 because their uniforms often required long black cotton stockings. Many Girl Guide uniforms in Britain included black stockings.

Leibchen (Germany)

One garment discussed in the German clothing section was a "Leibchen"--a vest-like garment worn under a boy's shirt to which hose supporters were sewn or otherwise attached. (I don't believe the German boys had safety pins at the tops of their garters as the American boys usually did.) The Leibchen ordinarily buttoned up the back and was apparently made of some sturdy material (jean cloth?) that would take the strain of the attached hose supporters. This may be the garment which the two cyclists in your pages on German Long Stockings are wearing although one of your German contributors in "Long Stockings: Length" mentions that older boys "had shorter garters fixed at a waist belt similar to that worn by their mothers, but of course without all the adornment of women's garter belts." Note that the stockings are very long in these pictures and that the supporters fasten very high on the leg under very short shorts. Some of these Leibchens appear to have only two garters in front--one for each stocking--while others seem to have four garters--two for each stocking.

Pantywaists (United States)

This term is generally used as a synonym for an underwaist. Advertisers tended to avoid it , especially in the 20th century, because of its satirical use as a term of abuse for sissy boys, but it occasionally appears in underwear advertisements. The term arose because one of the functions of the underwaist for girls and for small boys was the buttoning of panties or underpants onto the waist buttons of the underwaist. Pantywaists, however, almost always had garter tabs for hose supporters and were nearly identical to most underwaists.

Pin-on Garters (United States)

Pin-on garters are a type of stocking supporters. From the end of the 19th century until the middle 1940s, hose supporters were sold individually for the support of boys’ and girls stockings. At the very beginning the elastic garters, almost always with two pendants in a Y-shape, were attached to underwaists or other underwear by means of buttons. Then the safefy-pin model was introduced which allowed the garters to be attached to garter tabs on waist suits or underwaists by pinning. The pin-on style was used almost exclusively throughout the first half of the 20th century. Pin-garters were made in various sizes—not only for children up to their teenage years but also for adult women. Women’s and children’s hose supporters were always sold together, size being the only difference. They usually were available in black or white. Black was popular in the early years of the century. By the 1930s and 1940s white was the more popular color.

Shoulder Braces (United States)

Parents in the 19th and early 20th century were very concerned about posture. We see many ads for shoulder braces and other support garments in magazines and catalogs. The shoulder brace was strictly speaking a posture control device. We note, however, that some shoulder braces were made with buttons or garters to hold up long stockings and other garments. This is confusing because some garmets that were essentially stocking suppoters like garter waists were reffered to as shoulder braces.

Shoulder Garters (United States)

Some garter waists suspended the hose supporters directly from the shoulders without the use of a waistband. One term for this style was "shoulder garters". An Eaton 1918 ad refers to such a garment as a "shoulder brace" with garters attached. Sears sold a much more modern version of shoulder garters on its garter waist page in 1939. This shows a cocker spaniel pulling on one of the hose supporters which is connected directly to the boy's shoulder.

Skeleton Waists (United States)

The term skeleton waist was frequently used for a style of garter waist that consisted of shoulder straps, a waistband (sometimes with additional buttons for other garments and sometimes without), and hose supporters suspended from the waistband. Advertisers sometimes used the term to refer to a garment designed like the Dr. Parker garter waist (Eaton's and Ward's used this term sometimes) or the Kern's Child's waist or Kern's Daisy waist (Sear's terms). The word "skeleton" simply means that the garter waist is reduced to its minimum constituent elements, having as much open space on the upper body as possible. One kind of underwaist was even referred to as a "skeleton" model by Wards simply because its armholes are cut very low and because it uses less material than the traditional underwaist. So, in this case, there is a certain overlapping of the term between garter waists and underwaists. Logically speaking, suspender waists (such as the Kazoo or Samson models) might also be thought of as "'keleton waists' because of their open construction, but in HBC terminology, the "skeleton waist" is classified as a garter waist. The skeleton wist is often confused with the suspender waist. The two are very similar. The skeleton waist is a variant of the suspender waist. Basically a suspender waist is any waist that uses shoulder straps (suspenders) as the basic means to hold up trousers and long stockings. The complication comes in noticing whether the suspenders are worn on top of the shirt (like adult men's suspenders) or are just part of a garter waist that is totally hidden underneath the shirt. The famous Kazoo "suspender waist" actually has suspenders for trousers that show when a boy has taken off his jacket (just as men's suspenders show under the same circumstances). But the well-known Dr Parker hose supporter waist (which also has suspenders) is designed to be worn entirely as underwear and therefore doesn't show at all when a boy is fully dressed. The Pioneer Junior waist has suspenders that seem to be designed to show (like the most famous Kazoo of the several Kazoo waists). But Kazoo waists came in several models, one of which was for both boys and girls up to the age of twelve. This Kazoo waist had suspenders, but they were simply part of the child's underwear and didn't show. Girls often wore "skeleton waists" but they didn't wear suspenders for trousers as boys did. You can tell the difference between the two types of Kazoo waist by observing whether the waist has a belt or not. Suspender waists with belts were often referred to as "skeleton waists." The various models of Kern's waists (advertised by Sears) were skeleton waists and they all have suspenders--but they are suspenders that don't show when the boy or girl is clothed. I guess the clearest way to make this distinction is to say that all suspender waists are also skeleton waists, but that skeleton waists that have suspenders that are NOT part of a boy's underwear are often referred to as "suspender waists." On HBC we have been reserving the term "suspender waist" for a garment in which the suspenders are visible after getting dressed and the term "skeleton waist" for garments that have suspenders that don't show. But the distinction is somewhat artificial because we see references in advertisements to "skeleton waists" that include both visible and invisible suspenders.

Strapsleibchen (Germany)

The most prominent country where long stockings were worn was Germany. Long stockings were worn in Germany in the late 19th century much as they were in many other European countries. In Germany during the first half of the 20th century long stockings for both boys and girls continued to be extremely common. They were worn promarily for warmth, but they were also seen as appropriate for formal occassions. The usual means of support was a Leibchen or bodice with long garters attached. These bodices were like sleeveless jackets, usually made of knit or other sturdy fabric with reinforced built-in straps over the shoulders to take the strain of button-on short trousers or skirts and additional buttons for the garter straps which tended to be strips of elastic with button-holes at regular intervals that allowed for length adjustment. There were some short comings with the basic Leibchen. During the 1930s German manufacturers improved the design of Leibchen for long stockings in several ways. They replaced the somewhat flimsy button-hole garter straps with better quality commerical hose supporters. These straps were typically made of wider elastic webbing, equipped with buckles for length adjustment, sewn permanently onto the bottom of the Liebchen, and featured sturdy metal loop and rubber-button clasps for attachment to the stocking tops of the same kind that women wore on their corsets. The metal clasps had the advantage of being stronger than sewn-on buttons and didn't come undone as easily under the pressures of sports or other physical activity.

Suspender Waists (United States)

Suspender waists were a support garment to hold up other garments in addition to stockings. So-called "suspender waists" were invented at the turn of the 20th century and were popular mianly with boys who wore knee pants and needed a way of supporting their long stockings--almost always black. Although some models of the suspender waist (such as the Kazoo) were manufactured in styles that could be worn also by girls, the main wearers of these waists were boys. They were called "suspender waists" because they combined trousers suspenders with hose supporters and often had leather suspender mountings or attachments for holding up knee pant which would be visible when the boy was fully dressed. These garments featured suspender straps for trousers worn over a boy's shirt, but the same straps that supported the trousers also continued below the waistline and had hose supporters for attaching to the tops of long stockings. The straps above the waistline were visible whereas the lower part of the strap with the hose supporters was concealed under the trousers. This style didn't last very long and was most popular during the 1910s. Older boys (as old as 18) preferred suspender waists to underwaists or other support garments because they were more grown-up, more masculine, more like suspenders worn by their fathers, and less like the garter waists or underwaists worn by girls or smaller boys. Note that suspender waists are not to be confused with the older style of garter waists (such as the Dr. Parker waist) which also had suspender-like straps over the shoulders, a waist belt (sometimes with waist buttons for outer clothing), and hose supporters. With true suspender waists only the garter part of the waist can be classified as underwear because the shoulder straps would be visible (like ordinary modern suspenders) on top of a shirt. This distinction breaks down of course with the suspender waists made for girls which, in fact, are just another form of garter waist worn entirely as underwear.

Suspenders (Britain)

The British term for hose supporters, not to be confused with trousers suspenders (called "braces" in Great Britain).

Underwaists (United States)

Originally stocking supporters had been suspended from vest-like underwaists (also called "pantywaists"), sleeveless bodice-like undergarments, worn by both boys and girls, which had buttons for attaching the garters and other clothing such as underpants, bloomers, skirts, and trousers. This style of garment eventually developed by the first decade of the 20th century to provide special tape loops, eyeleted tabs, or metal-pinning tubes for attaching the supporters by means of safety pins. But these "pantywaists" (as they were sometimes called in common parlance although usually not by the manufacturers or advertisers) proved most suitable for younger boys up to about age 8, and although they continued to be manufactured for children up through the age or 12 or 13, were hated by older boys as effeminate and juvenile. Underwaists came in a variety of styles but two types predominated--the knitted style which was warmer and close-fitting and the cambric, non-knitted style which was somewhat looser. Both types had waist buttons, reinforcement straps, and supporter tabs. Some opened in front, some in back, and some simply slipped over the upper body and had no closure buttons at all. Some underwaists had button closure at the shoulders to allow for a child's growth.

Waist Union Suits/Waist Suits (United States)

In the early 1920s the waist union suit was developed and remained popular until the mid 1940s. This garment (for both boys and girls up until about the age of 13) combined the basic one-piece union suit, the standard form of children's underwear, with the underwaist (with reinforcement straps, waist buttons, and garter tabs) so that a single garment could do duty for two. Wearing one layer rather than two made getting dressed easier, and mothers saved money by not having to buy both a union suit and an underwaist or garter waist. These suits were sometimes referred to as "combination suits." Waist union suits came in both summer and winter styles. The summer style was usually made of nainsook and was like a junior version of adult BVDs. It had short legs and was usually sleeveless so as to be cool. Usually the girl's summer style was a bit different from the boy's summer style, the latter having front buttons from the neck to the crotch. The winter style was knitted like ordinary union suits and could be had with short sleeves and knee-length legs or with long sleeves and ankle-length legs. All these garments, whether winter or summer, or whether for boys or girls, were equipped with waist buttons for outer clothing and tabs for hose supporters. Waist union suits normally had all the features of an underwaist plus the usual features of a summer or winter union suit. These went out of style in the mid-1940s when long stockings ceased to be widely worn and when garter tabs on underwear were no longer necessary.

Old Text

Here we have some older text and related pages which we have to reorganize.

Created: 1:53 AM 6/30/2005
Last updated: 7:24 PM 2/6/2013