Figure 1.--This young boy, I think in the early 1880s, wears a pleated, striped wool skirt and solid-color jacket. Note the double row of buttons in the double breasted style. He has a small lace collar with bows. Short hair was prevalent in until the mid-1980s when the Fauntleroy craze began. The carte de viste image is from the Photographic Studio of E.G. Goldsmith, 374 Main St., Springfield, Mass.

Jackets

After breeching

Boys began wearing the modern style of jackets and trousers in the early 19th Century. Quite young boys might wear a jacket, but at first with a skirt/kilt or as part of dress outfit (figure 1). There were endless variation of this theme, centering on the style of the jascket and length of the pants. Generally boys wore dresses when very young and then after they were breeched would wear a variety of costumes such as:

• Tunics
• Smocks
• Kilt suits
• Sailor suits

Often when he was about 12 or 13 he would receive a relativly adult looking jacket and trousers. One fashion columnist wrote in 1843:

In my opinion a boy when he leaves off wearing a tunic should only wear a single-breasted jacket. As he grows older, say at 12 years of age ... a smartly made and well-fitted double-breasted jacket makes a nice kind of transition between the juvenile single-breasted jacket and the more manly frock (i.e. frockcoat). [J. Couts, Practical Guide, 1843.]

Jacket styles

Over time, boys have had several different jacket styles to choose from:

• Skeleton suit:
• Eton suit:
• Norfolk suit:
• Blazer
• Double breasted suit:
• Sport jackets

Figure 2.--Boys in the 1860s wore fancy suits with matching jackets and pants. The style of knee or calf-length pants began to be seen with increasing frequency..

Pants and Trousers

Boys have also worn pants and trousers of different length. [Note: the authors have generally chosen the American word pants. In British English the proper word would be trousers, pants in Britain refer to underwear.] Long trousers were common in the first decade of the 19th Century. Boys wore long pants with their skeleton suits. At mid-century knee-length pants had appeared for boys, but it was not uncommon to see even younger boys wearing long pants., but had generally been replaced by knee-length pants and long stockings by the 1860s boys under 12 years of age, but some older boys were also wearing them.

The Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine reported in 1863 that the knickerbocker suit "reigns supreme". It contibued to do well into the first half of the 20th Cenuary. The development appears to be a little later in America, but eventually American boys were also in knee-lenght pants. The knee pants were full, closed at the knee with buckles or buttons, or simply cut off at the knee. The age of boys wearing knee pants gradually increased in the late 19th Century. By the turn of the Century even older teenagers, boys of 18 and 19 years of age were commonly wearing knee pants.

The pants worn by boys in the 20th Century have varied widely by decade and country. American boys commonly wore knickers in the 1920s and 30s, but in the 1940s increasingly wore long pants. English and European boys commonly wore short pants, but long pants became more common beginning in the 1960s. Since the 1970s American and European boys have begun wearing very similar styles of clothes, both for dress suits as well as play and casual wear.

Types of pants

Information is available on the different styles of pants worn with suits and jackets:

• Kneepants
• Knickers
• Short pants
• Long pants

Pants chronology

The fashions for the pants worn with suits appears to have been roughly:

• The 1860s: Knee-length pants become common in England during the late 1850s and early 1860s. Knee pants by the late 1860s had spread to America, especially among affluent families in the major cities.

  Figure 3.--These American (New York) twins wear identical Norfolk suits with kneepants and long woolen stockings. Notice the boys' straw hats. The photograph was probably taken in the 1890s.

• The 1870s: The knee pants became closer fitting, appearing almost like knee breches.
• The 1880s: A Lord & Taylor' catalog for 1881 showed various juvenile styles for boys up to 11, but jackets and suits with pants cut off at the knees for boys from 5-12. Longpants suit were available for boys beginning at 10. Often the legs were slped for a close fit below the knee, Knee pants still commonly appeared as trousers cut off at the knees, according to Woman's World in 1888. As the decade progressed, knee pants were increasinly worn by older boys.
• The 1890s: The fashion magazine The Delineator describes knee pants suits for boys up to 16 years.
• The 1900s: A clothing catalog offers knee pants suits for boys, some with waist sizes up to 28 inches (about 16 years) and others up to 33 inches (18 or 19 years).
• The 1910s: Shorts were still relatively rare, but knee pants now often bloused up and were closed above the knee. They were usually worn with over the knee stockings, but small boys during the summer might be seen with bare legs. An American clothing catalog in 1919 offered knicker suits of various styles. Younger styles for boys from 3/5-8/9 and older styles for boys from 8-15 years.
• The 1920s: Short pants and knee socks appeared in England before World War I (1914-18) and became common in Europe during the 1920s. At first they were knee length, but gradually became shorter, especially on the Continent. Shorts appeared in America after World War I, but knickers were much more popular with boys. A clothing catalog in 1923 offered knicker suits for boys up to 18 years.
• The 1930s: Short pants were commonly worn in Europe, but in America knickers were the primary suit pants, except for very small boys.
• The 1940s: British and European boys continued to wear shorts. In America knickers began to disppear and by the end of the decade were rarely seen.
• The 1950s: Boys in England and Europe commonly wore short pants suits. It was lest common in America and mostlt for younger boys.

  Figure 4.--Madras jackets for were popular for boys of all ages in the 1950s and 1960s. Some younger boys wore then with short pants and kneesocks.

• The 1960s: Shorts were still commonly worn in England and the Continent at the beginning of the decade. British catalogs, for example offered smartly tailored grey dress shorts, commonly worn fo school, for boys with waists up to 26 1/2 inches and in some cases up to 28 inches which would be about 15 or 16 years. Dressing in short pants suits generally declined during the decade in both England and Europe.
• The 1970s: Short pants suits for boys generally went out of fashion in Europe during the decade. Some smaller boy although might wear them. English boys often wore short pants, but generally with blazers as part of a school uniform. (A few schools had grey suits as a uniform rather than blazers.) American boys over 7 rarely wore shor pants suits.
• The 1980s: Almost all boys except for the very smallest wore long pants suits. Some boys during the summer might wear blue blacers and chino shorts, usually if accompanying their parents to some social event, but for all but the smallesr--never with knee socks.
• The 1990s: