Figure 1.--Family snapshots provide a lot of information about suspender shorts. Here we see two American boys playing in the late-1950s or early-1960s. The boy on top wears suspender shorts. They look to be about 6-7 years old. Despite the wrestling match, the white shirts both boys wear, suggest that these are not play outfits.

Suspender shorts were sill worn to some extent in the early 50s, but they were much less common than in the 1940s. We primarily see them with dress shots for youngerboys, such as the ones worn with Eton suits. They do not show up very prominatly in the photographic record because they are covered by the suit jacket. Shorts with suspenders of the same material as the the shorts were still worn. The suspenders were attached to the shorts or buttoned on. These were generally dressier shorts rather than the ones for play in which case elasticized boxer waists became common. The suspender shirts became less common during the decade, probably because dressy shorts were less commonly worn. A HBC reader writes, "I don't think that suspender shorts were very common in America during the 1950s. I've looked at a lot of school pictures and family snapshots on the web, and the last examples of suspender shorts worn as an item of daily wear by a boy above toddlerhood was in the late 40s in a first or second grade class in Florida. I didn't wear them beyond the age of 2, and my New Jersey cousins last wore them at 3 or 4 when gussied up for a Christmas photo. Clearly they had become a nostalgia item that mother inflicted on boys too young to object when they wanted to make them look precious. The fact that Dennis the Menace's friend Joey wore them was an anachronism that more reflected 40s styles than 50s styles, much the same as Dennis the Menace's overalls." I think our reader is correct except for dressy wear. A good example is the Gabriel family in 1958. The younger boy wears the shorts probably for an Eton suit, but without the jacket. Another reader writes, "I grew up in the 1940s-50s and I don't recall suspender shorts, perhapsI was too young. I do vaguely recall clip on suspenders, but no longer recall just when I wore them." Another reader writes, "I remember kids in the 50s wearing suspender shorts. I recall wearing them to school in kindergarten during 1956. I have seen photos of friends around my age wearing them. While they were mainly for dress I have a vague memory of having a pair that I wore for play in summer 1957. "

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Created: 3:30 PM 1/31/2017
Last updated: 4:06 PM 1/31/2017