Figure 1.--Here we see an unidentfied American boy in a daisy field. The photo is not real clear, but it looks like a smock to us. It is not dated, but the wide white border suggests the 1910s to us.

American boys in the 20th century seem to have worn smock even less than in the 19th century. We see quite a few girls wearing pimafores in the early-20th century, but not after that. Ans smocks were much less common. And with the advent of the family snapshot, they would show up if they were being worn to any extent. The extent of the photographic record and the ubiquity of the family snapshot means that prevalence is a very good indicator as to thec wxrent to which garmnts were actully worn. And we see very few examples of smocks in the 20th century photographic record. A few in the early part of the century, but not much after that. There seems to have been a social-class component here. The few example we see are boys from well-to-do families or at least substantial middle-class families. There is one exception to this. We do see some boys in school art classes or doing art at home wearing smocks. And we see some items in catalogs, but very few examples of boys actully wearing smocks. they were not even very common for girls.

Early 20th Century (1900-20)

I believe that up until World War I that smocks were still worn by some boys from wealthy or affluent families, much as was the case in the late 19th Century. I'm not sure if it was more or less common than in the late 19th century. I think it might have been less common, but this can not yet be substantiated. One problem may be that children were probably not as commonly photogrpahed in smocks, but with the spread of amateur photographs and the greater number of candid snap shots, one would expect that more photogrphs would have been taken. This requires, however, further investigation.

Mid-20th Century (1920-45)

After World War I it became increasingly less common for boys to wear smocks. This appears to have been one of the many changes following World War I (1914-18). HBC has noted smocks for todler boys in 1920s clothing catalogs in sizes up to 5 years. They were decidedly unpopular with American boys. The few American boys who still wore smocks were was mostly boys being raised in wealthy families, but even this had mostly disappeared in the 1930s. These smocks appear to have been generally lighter colors, in some cases gingham. Often short sleeved smocks were now employed. Some younger boys might have worn them at private preschools or kindergartens.

Post-War Era (1945-1970)

We do not see American boys wearing smocks after World War II. They are virtually absent in the photographic record. There is one excption. And that was art. Some schools, especially private schools may have had smocks for art schools. The idea of course was to protect clothes from all the paints and art materials. Some mothers may have even purchased smocks for home art activities. We don't have any photographic evidence of this, but we do see some offerings in mail order catalogs. An example is the 1963 Fall Winter Best & Co catalog. A reader writes, "I wore a smock like the one offered in the Best catalog. I had it from age 4 or 5 years utill I was 7 or 8 years old. I think a friend of my mother gave it to her for me as a present because I liked to paint. She would set me up in a room we called the play room. The smock kept my clothes clean. I think by the time I was 7 years old I had outgrown it. I was young enough and my mother always said it was to protect my clothes that I did not care about wearing a smock. It helped that we wore smocks in kindergarten and first grade when we painted too. Those smocks were more like shirts that buttoned down the front."

Late-20th Century (1970-2000)

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Created: 4:35 AM 5/25/2019
Last updated: 4:35 AM 5/25/2019