Figure 1.--German boys still commonly wore short pants in the 1950s, both with ankle socks and kneesocks. Some boys wore long stockings during the winter, but this was becoming less common. Increasingly bpys were wearing long pants during the winter.

There were still destinctive national clothing styles in the 1950s. It is often to identify a boy's nationality on the basis of the clothes worn. Boys around the world mostly wore either short or long trousers. There were wide variations among countries in the types of pants worn by boys. The popularity of different types of pants was quite different between America and Europe and even between different European countries. Knickers disappeared in the 1950s. They were no longer seen in America, but we notice them still be worn by a few boys in some European countries. Here the country varied widely from country to country. American boys during the 1950s mostly wore long trousers in a variety of styles, although we also see short pants in some cases. Knickers had disappeared. Canadian boys wore clothing similar in most respects to what was being worn in the United States. Knickers persisted a little longer than in the United States. We see some boys wearing breeches. Despite the climate we note some Canadian boys wearing short pants. English boys wore both short and long trousers in the 1950s. We do not notice boys wearing knickers. English boys in the 1950s still commonly wore short trousers. Boys on the early 50s commonly wore short pants suits, but this was much less common by the end of the decade. At the same time many state schools were introducing uniforms which in many cases required boys to wear short trousers. French boys still commonly wore short pants in the 50s, especially during the summer. Kneesocks were less common. More boys were wearing long pants which became increasingly common during the winter. We see German boys wearing both short and long pants during the 1950s. A few boys still wore knickers, but they were not very common. Throughout the 1950s, German boys, often as old as 13 or 14, continued to dress in short trousers, especially in the early 1950s. The age of boys wearing short trousers declined during the decade. One destinctive fashion in German duing the 1950s were Lederhosen. They were worn by boys af all ages. We have very little information about Japanese boys’ clothing during the 1950s. Most of our illustrations come from later decades. We know that Japanese school uniforms imitated continental Europe and usually involved short pants with knee socks. Dutch boys wore both short and long pants. Short pants in various styles were still popular. Most Scottish schoolboys dressed like their English counterparts—in short pants and knee socks, sometimes in short-pants suits or in school blazers. Scotish boys clothes while similar to English clothes were somewhat more traditional. One of the few real differences is that Scottish boys sometimes wore kilts when dressing up or for Scouting and school. Soviet boys in the post-war decade, were still wearing short trousers up to their teen yers, often with long stockings. This style was partly a matter of the climate, but it also reflected the notion, quite usual in the northern and eastern countries of Europe, that boys should not wear long trousers until they were at least 12 or 13.

America

American boys during the 1950s mostly wore long trousers in a variety of styles, although we also see short pants in some cases. Knickers had disappeared. The Best & Co. 1952 catalog, advertised several kinds of long trousers, some with suspenders, which were coming back into popularity. This was a store for reasonably affluent families. Boys a young as 6 years were wearing the same pants as older boys. Age 6 of course was the age boys began school. Jeans with suspenders attached had become something of a fad by mid-decade. Anothe fad was peg-leg jeans that were worn very tight and form fitting. Notice the Ward's 1955 catalog. Scouts still generally wore long pants, although there was an optional short pants uniform. A HBC reader tells us his Cub unifiorm in 1959 was a long pants uniform. This is a good example of 1950s Scout trends. Some Cubs wore the short pants uniform with kneesocks which the BSA promoted, but it was not very popular with the boys. More Scouts wore the short pants uniform, but commonly only at summer camp. Walter Field was a boys’ clothes manufacturer. The Field 1952 catalog offered two styles of boy’s sport suits in 1951. These had long trousers but came with coat jackets cut along very straight lines with wide lapels and patch pockets. They were worn with shirts and ties but had a very casual, informal look, one of them with two-tone styling. Patterns also provide important insights. A Vogue 1951 pattern was for little boys’ shorts—button-on shorts or shorts to be worn with a belt. There were also patterns for open-necked shirts to go with the shorts. The illustration shows the boys wearing these shorts with ankle socks, which seem to have been the American preferred hosiery with shorts during the decade. Most American boys beyond the age of 5 or 6 wore long pants. Some boys wore short pants. Here there were social class and regional factors involved. Some boys from affluent families wore short panys more than other Anerican boys. Some private schools cattering to affluent families had short pants uniforms. The St. James School in Connecticut is an example of an exclusive New England boys' school. A reader writes, "The school uniform here reminds me of the way my youngest brother dressed at his boarding school when he was about 12 or 13. The boys wear white shirts with a school tie, dark short pants, and black knee socks without turnover cuffs. Shorts became primaily warm weather summer clothes during the 1950s." We note American lads about 7 or 8 wearing white turtleneck sweaters with shorts at some point in the 1950s, but this was becoming relatively rare. They seem to be dressed for school. It isn’t clear form the photo whether they are wearing knee socks, which would seem appropriate for these outfits. We see a variety of boys’ trousers in the 1952 Best & Co catalog. Best offered both short and long. Some are parts of suits, others are worn with blazers. The short pants outfits are worn with ankle socks and the popular two-tone or “saddle” shoes. The Ward’s 1955 catalog offered a variety of corduroy trousers, some of them with bib fronts, in 1955. Corduroy was a popular material because of its durability and practicality. In the latter half of the decade, shorts for older boys were making a comeback. These were obviously designed for summer and for sporty occasions. They were usually of the so-called Bermuda length and were sometimes referred to as “walking shorts.” This style caught on with boys who wanted a “preppy” look and presumably came from somewhat affluent, country-club type families, mostly from the Eastern seaboard. These teenage boys were imitating a style that had crept onto to college and university campuses. One style was sold by Galey and Lord (1955), another by the Carnegie Hi Society line of boy’s clothes (1959). But the preppy-style shorts didn’t go so far as to be worn with knee socks—which would have been the case with genuine Bermuda shorts. These shorts were what might be called an American gesture in the direction of a British style without going the whole way with it.

Canada

Canadian boys wore clothing similar in most respects to what was being worn in the United States. Knickers persisted a little longer than in the United States. We see some boys wearing breeches. Despite the climate we note some Canadian boys wearing short pants. We notice a Canadian boy wearing a first communion suit in Quebec that retained the now somewhat old-fashioned style of a dark (probably blue) short-pants suit worn with black long stockings (see fig. 2). The Catholic Church in Quebec regarded shorts as proper for boys but disapproved of bare legs, especially for religious ceremonies. In typical French fashion, the boy also wears a beret. Ironically the beret had largely disappered in France itself. A Canadian reader writes, "I remember around 1950 many young boys from central Europe immigrating to Canada arrived wearing ultra short shorts that boys in Canada never wore, except for the very youngest. This was especially true in prudish Quebec."

England

English boys wore both short and long trousers in the 1950s. We do not notice boys wearing knickers. English boys in the 1950s still commonly wore short trousers. Boys on the early 50s commonly wore short pants suits, but this was much less common by the end of the decade. At the same time many state schools were introducing uniforms which in many cases required boys to wear short trousers. This was not common in the 1940s. This occurred at many primary schools. Mant secondary schools required the younger boys to wear short trousers with their school uniform. This was also common in private schools. We note a public (private secondary) schoolboy wearing short pants and knee socks even while he is working in a garage on a car. Notice how short the shorts were beginning to get during this decade. Many boys in the 1950s wore baggy knee-length shorts, but much trimmer fitting shorts were appearing by the end of the decade. Even shorter shorts became popular in the 1960s, but we can already see the trend to shorter shorts here. For some reason, his friend (perhaps not a member of the school) is wearing ordinary long trousers. We see another schoolboy at a private school wearing corduroy shorts. Corduroy short pants, worn with knee socks, were very common as schoolboy dress during the decade. Notice also that the grey socks, the standard color in many schools, have no turnover tops and hence can’t be worn with garters. Many knee socks of the period were manufactured with elasticized tops, but they tended to be somewhat ineffective and to slide down. The socks in this picture seem to have shrunk a bit in the laundry and therefore don’t come up high enough to cover the boys’ calves completely. This photo gives us a good idea of the standard length of short pants in the 1950s. At Dudley School in England (1951), boys wore both short pants and long pants. It seems to have been a choice. This class photo shows both styles of trousers, although the short pants with knee socks seem to predominate. Many boys preferred the short pants, apparently, because of the greater freedom, and there was no stigma attached to wearing short pants in a country where shorts for boys were so ordinary and usual. A couple of photos of an English boy, who grew up in England during the postwar period, shows the typical short pants suit, worn, of course, with the almost mandatory knee socks. One of the photos shows how the socks kept slipping down if worn without garters. Notice also the school cap that many institutions required. The Littlewood’s catalogue (about 1950) gives a good illustration of the prevailing style of boys’ school and dress-up clothes. The boys are shown in short-pants suits with collars and ties and with neatly pulled up knee socks. Notice the turn-over tops of the socks, which were considered dressier than the socks without the cuffs.

France

French boys still commonly wore short pants in the 50s, especially during the summer. Kneesocks were less common. More boys were wearing long pants which became increasingly common during the winter.

Germany

We see German boys wearing both short and long pants during the 1950s. A few boys still wore knickers, but they were not very common. Throughout the 1950s, German boys, often as old as 13 or 14, continued to dress in short trousers, especially in the early 1950s. The age of boys wearing short trousers declined during the decade. One destinctive fashion in German duing the 1950s were Lederhosen. They were worn by boys af all ages. Lederhosen were a style initially worn in Bavaria, but by the 50s was more widely worn in Germany. More German boys were wearing long trousers by the end of the decade, especially during the Winter. Boys might wear long stockings in the chillier seasons, but this declined as the decade progressed. Some mothers indeed believed that their sons should wear long stockings with shorts even in warmer seasons if the occasion was a formal or dressy one. But for the most part long stockings came to be seen as old fashioned. In conservative, less fashionabe, communistic East Germany in 1951 we see a variety of boys’ trousers including knickers, which were much less common in the western parts of Europe. This is a class of school children about 7th or 8th grade level. Notice that these knickers are quite long and could be described as plus-fours. But one boy wears the more common shorts with long brown stockings. The shorts are typically rather short, thus requiring the stockings to be extra long and, doubtless, worn with a Leibchen. In the western part of the country, short pants with long stockings were typical for boys of a range of ages. In a photo of about 1952, we see a German mother with her three sons, two of them wearing H-bar shorts with long stockings. The smallest boy wears his suspenders crossed in front, which is a somewhat unusual style. The oldest boy wears lederhosen. The wearing of lederhosen with long stockings in the case of a younger teenager is illustrated by a 1957 photograph showing a boy with his bike. One can see the appeal of long stockings for such an exercise if the weather were a bit brisk, but, interestingly, this boy’s hose supporter clasps (he is obviously wearing a Leichen) show under the shorts. Some boys were embarrassed by garters showing, but this doesn’t seem to have been a problem for this boy. A 1955 photo shows three boys from Hamelin leaning over a bridge. These boys seem to wear corduroy short pants with their long stockings (brown and beige) although we can’t be quite certain. Hamelin seems to have been an area of Germany where long stockings with short pants were very common. A boy from this area, who is having a rest against a tree on a rural hike in 1953, again wears short lederhosen with long tan stockings. Interestingly, you can see the white button (or Waschknopf ) sewn to the top of the stocking to which the garter of his Leibchen is attached. Another Hamelin boy playing, presumably with his sister, at the side of a creek again wears the common tan long stockings with his short pants (1955). It is cold enough for a sweater but not really winter time. Notice the high-top shoes which many German boys wore for play or for school in the 1950s. We note German boy of about 12 wearing corduroy short pants with tan cotton long stockings, the length of which is visible because of the way he has disarranged his shorts. The interesting thing about this photograph is the variety of trousers worn by the three children—very long knickers (coming nearly to the ankles) in one case, and long trousers short enough to show the ankles in the other. All these boys seem to be adolescent or on the verge of adolescence. Notice the interesting jackets and sweater represented.

Italy

Japan

We have very little information about Japanese boys’ clothing during the 1950s. Most of our illustrations come from later decades. We know that Japanese school uniforms imitated continental Europe and usually involved short pants with knee socks. But long stockings and, later, tights were considered appropriate for younger boys, especially on formal occasions such as music recitals. Tights were only introduced very late in the decade (about 1959), so we are not quite sure if our photo of school boys wearing tights with their dress-up suits (see fig. 3) dates from 1959 or a bit later, but it nevertheless illustrates the style that parents favored.

Morocco

We see a school class in Morocco (1955-56) in which the children wear smocks, short pants, and knickers. The knickers seem to be quite full and to come down rather far on the leg. The shorts are apparently worn mostly with white knee socks, although one boy seems to have his socks pushed down to look like ankle socks. Of course Morocco at the time was still controlled by France, so the clothes are basically French styles.

The Netherlands

Dutch boys wore both short and long pants. Short pants in various styles were still popular. A 1951 Dutch catalogue shows a number of styles, all of them worn with knee socks. One boy wears bloomer-style pants (part of the French style known as babateuse—i.e., rompers), while another wears button-on shorts. All of the shorts, regardless of the age level, are noticeably briefly cut.

Scotland

Most Scottish schoolboys dressed like their English counterparts—in short pants and knee socks, sometimes in short-pants suits or in school blazers. Scotish boys clothes while similar to English clothes were somewhat more traditional. One of the few real differences is that Scottish boys sometimes wore kilts when dressing up or for Scouting and school. Our information about Scottish boys’ trousers in the 1950s comes mostly from school-related photographs. Scottish school uniforms sometimes included the kilt. An example of a state school is Pitcalnie School in 1957 (in the Highlands) shows a class wearing both the kilt and short pants. These boys are pictured in only sweaters and shirts with ties, and they wear both knee socks and ankle socks. With the kilt, of course, knee socks are virtually required. An example of a private school is Gordonstoun School, a fashionable boarding schoolcalled a public school in Britain. Prince Charles was sent there for his teenage years. Gordonstoun had school uniforms in the 1950s which resembled those of most public schools in England. In this photo, we see the boys wearing “jumpers” (pullover sweaters), short pants, and cuffed knee socks with garters to keep them from slipping down. Notice the almost military formation, which gives us a sense of the strictness of the dress code. Another photo shows a Scottish teenager wearing his school kilt (see fig. 3). He explains that this was regulation dress in the school but that he also wore his kilt to parties and other out-of-school events in the 1950s.

Soviet Union

Soviet boys in the post-war decade, were still wearing short trousers up to their teen yers, often with long stockings. This style was partly a matter of the climate, but it also reflected the notion, quite usual in the northern and eastern countries of Europe, that boys should not wear long trousers until they were at least 12 or 13. A charming photograph, taken in 1956, shows a soccer fan of about 10 or 11, chatting in admiration with an adult soccer player and wearing the traditional short pants with long stockings. We can’t see whether his friend is wearing short or long trousers but we suspect short. In 1954 we have a photo showing the standard schoolboy clothing for boys in the lower grades of the Moscow school system. This boy wears bib shorts with light brown or tan long stockings. As in Germany, Russian boys of this age wore the Russian equivalent of a Leibchen with long garters to hold up the stockings, which were almost always tan or brown. We note that in the West there were social class factors involved in children clothing. Boys from more affluent families were more likely to wear short pants. We are unsure if similar trends affected the Soviet Union. Of course the Soviets were trying to build a classless society, but still there was an educated, more cultured elite. The style of Russian boys’ normal clothing in the 1950s is well illustrated by the author of children’s books, Vladislav Krapivin, who shows a boy with shorts, heavy woolen stockings, and calf-length boots for snowy and muddy areas, worn even inside the home in Soviet times. In 1956, a Russian magazine photographed a Russian schoolboy of about 10 or 11 wearing the standard short pants, long ribbed cotton stockings (probably brown), and high-top shoes of the period.