Figure 1.--A Russian reader reoport that Russian boys from about 5-11 years of age commonly wore tights with short pants during the 1970s. This prticular photograph shows that tigts were worn in the summer as well as the colder months. This photograph was taken in 1974.

Boys dressed in cotton tights during spring from March to last days of May. Summer are hot, and boy don't wear tights in this time except cold days. Boys wear woolen tights under his regular clothes from November to February. While this was when boys most commonly wore tights, this ws not the only time. Some boys wore tights even during the summer. The summer season in parts of Russia is quite short. Thus boys were acustomed to wearing tights much of the year. Thus some boys who wore shorts during the summer just continued wearing tights. This was probably most common on days which began little chilly so their mothers probably put out ther tights rather than socks in the morning. This was common in the 1960s anbd 70s, although declined in the 1980s.

Cold Weather Wear

Boys dressed in cotton tights during spring from March to last days of May. Summer are hot, and boy don't wear tights in this time except cold days. Boys wear woolen tights under his regular clothes from November to February. While this was when boys most commonly wore tights, this ws not the only time. A Russian reader reports that wearing tights was not just a matter of dressing warmly, but many mothers saw first long stockings as age appropriate dress for boys, whether they were wearing long or short pants. He insists that too much attention should not be given to tights as cold weather wear. He reports that boys wearing short pants and tights coul be seen throughout the year.

Summer Wear

HBC had assumed that tights were cold weather wear. A Russian reader, however, insists that tights were not just worn in the winter. Some boys wore tights even during the summer. The summer season in parts of Russia is quite short. Thus boys were acustomed to wearing tights much of the year. Thus some boys who wore shorts during the summer just continued wearing tights. This was probably most common on days which began little chilly so their mothers probably put out ther tights rather than socks in the morning.

Chronology

Russian boys wearing tights with short pants were common by 1970s. Boys in Germany had begun wearing tights in the 1960s, but it did not become common in Russia until the 1970s. Earlier Rusian boys wore long stockings which had been the case since the late 19th century. In the late 1970s and early 80s this fashion declined and you no longer saw boys wearing short pants with tights.

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Created: December 23, 2001
Last updated: December 23, 2001