Figure 1.--American boys still commonly wore knickers in the 1930s, although they were not as universal as you saw in the 1920s and there were fewer older boys wearing them.

America

Kickers were very commonly worn by American boys, especially in the early 1930s. We see fewer older boys waring them in the 30s, but most primary school boys wore them as well as younger adolescents. Knicker suits were also common. Sears in its 1930s catalog still offered knickers for boys to age 18. We see boys wearing knickers suts for their Lutheran confirmation in 1932. By the late 1930s they were mostly being worn by grade school boys, but they were no longer universally worn. The catalog companies began offering suits with both knicker and long pants. Even so, we notice that Sears in its 1939 catalogs was still offering a variety of knickers in sizes up to 14 and 16 years. Sone of the knicker suits included a pair of "longies" as well. We are not sure how families handeled when the knickers were worn and when the longies were worn. Boys commonly wore knickers at American boarding schools during the 1930s although long pants were also seen. Most boys wished to wear longies but it was a matter of what parents insisted on, Many boys were not allowed to wear longies at school until about 15, sometimes even 16. A reader writes, "Some boys were still wearing knickers at my boarding school, Western Reserve Academy, in the early 1940s. Note this older boy wearing knickers at the school in 1934. My brother's prep school also followed the same tradition. Here is a class at the Shady Side Acaedemy in Pittsburgh in 1935 showing most of the boys in knickers. Knickers in the 1930s were like the 1920s seen as a kind of sporty look for men, often affluent individuals. They were worn for gold and country outings by the country club set. Despite the fact that some men wore knickers, mist boys looked forward to getting longies. And by the lzte 1930s long pants for even yunger boys were becoming quite common.

Denmark

A reader tells us, "Knickers were quite common in continental Europe for older boys and young men during the 1930s. They were in fact worn up through at least the 1950s in places like Austria and Denmark. I remember seeing university students in Copenhagen in the late 1950s wearing knickers with pullover sweaters. The style was popular with men under the age of 30 and lots of highschoolers wore them also. The Danish and Austrian style knickers were rather close-fitting and didn't have much blousing at the knees--no more than an inch."

England

France

Knickers do not seem to have been very popular in France. We do note older boys wearing knickers and knicker suits. And the older boys at some schools wore knickers. One example is the Ecole Libre Saint-François Régis

Germany

We see alot of German boys wearing knickers in the 19th century, but this became much less common in the 20th century. Short pasnts were very common for German boys in the 1930s. After about age 15, many boys began wearing both long pants and knickers. Here social class and school was a factor. Working-class boys that left school after primary school at about age 14 were most likely to wear long pants. Boys staying in school more commonly wore short pants, but many older boys in schools begm wearing knickers or long pants.

Italy

The patern in Europe was different. We note younger secondary school boys in Italy wearing short pants and only a few boys wearing knickers. One example is the Ginasio Parini located in Milan.

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Created: 1:43 PM 10/19/2006
Last edited: 1:43 PM 10/19/2006