Figure 1.--For this family snapshot we do not have to guess. The phoyograph was taken in June 1948 just befor car styling began tobvhsnge. The family is the Wilmers. The pooch is Dutch. The children are Jpanne and Drew Jaoneeis wearin a blouse and print skirt with flounces. Drew wears suspnder shirts with a T-sdhirt and saddlke shirts. Wearing supender shorts with such a casual shirt was something that was not common earlier. Notice the narrow straps.

The 1940s began with the War years in Europe and then then the Japnese carrier attack on Pearl Hsrbor brought the United States into the War. This ment the end of the Dpression with the economy going from high employment to a labor shortage. Consumers for the first time in decade were flush with cash, although after Pearl Harbor the economy was mobilized for war meaning consumer products were no longer widely avilable as American became the gret Arsenl of Democracy. This would not change until V-J Day ending the the War (September 1945), As with World War I, World War II meant an increasing trend toward informality. And we see fewer boys wearing suspender shorts in part because fewer boys were dressing up in suits. This was a trend we began seeing in World War I and was inceasingly apparent in the 1940s in part because of World War II. For the first time we begin seeing boys wearing upender shorts with casual shirts like T-shirts. Drew here is a good exmple (figure 1). Quite a number of images shows boys playing in suspender shorts. This may be beaise susprnder shorts were being bouugt as part of short sets shich were common in mail order catalogs. These were done as both button-on and suspender outfits. Button-on styling seems to have been more important than suspender styling. A Sears catalog in 1941, shows only one pair of suspender shorts among quite a number of shirts and long sets. A reader writes, "I think that suspender shorts gained their greatest popularity a few years after the 1941 example mentioned here. You see them most in the early postwar years, up to the early 1950s. Perhaps they shared some of the zoot suit zeitgeist. (Say "zoot suit zeitgeist" three times fast, and try to keep a straight face.) The thing is that by then shorts were definitely considered little-boys' wear, so suspender shorts were reserved for toddlers. Very different from the situation in Europe." We also see suspender shorts worn for dressy ovvasion and smart casual wear. This was was the standard convention in earlier decades. A good example is the boy on the prvious page wearing whazt looks like the short pants for a junior Eton suit (figure 4). He is in his backyrd, but clearly not dressed for play despite the hobby horse and helmet. Another good example is two brothers dressed up for Christmas in 1940. Again they look like the shorts for junior Eton shorts that many boys wore.

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Created: 7:19 PM 1/5/2022
Last updated: 7:19 PM 1/5/2022