Sport Coats: Accompaying Clothes--Pants


Figure 1.--Times change. These boys' mothers insisted that they dress up to sight-see in Washington D.C. during the 1960s. The image can be dated by both the narrow lapels and ties and the cameras which still used fash bulbs. (Remember those?) Notice the different levels of formality. One boy wears a casual shirt and sport socks. The other boy a tie and kneesocks. The boys were 11 and 12 years old.

As sport coats or jackets were primarily an American style, boys most commonly wore them with long pants. This of course was not always the case. We have not noted boys wearing sports jackets with knickers, primarily because knickers were going out of style just at the time when sports coats were becoming popular. Another factor here is age. Many parents did not buy sports coars and suits for younger boys and they were the boys most likely to wear short pants. We have noted boys wearing sporks jackets with short pants, although long pants were much more common. Here there appear to have been a range of social-class and regional factors. This is notable both in the photographic record and in available catalog advertisements and the photographic record. This has varied over time Some American boys, however, did wear them with shorts--as did some European boys, especially during the 1940s and 50s. Long pants became increasingly common in the 1960s, except for younger primary chool-age children. While sports coats while primarily an American style, they were worn in other countries as well, and in some such as England, short pants were more common.

Kneepants

We have not noted boys wearing kneepants with sports coats. Here the time frame is the primary factor. Kneepants went out of style after World War I in the early 1920s before sports coats became fashionable.

Knickers

We have not noted boys wearing sports jackets with knickers, primarily because knickers were going out of style just at the time when sports coats were becoming popular. There may well be some exceptions here. We do note boys wearing jackets with white knickers durig the summer. The jackets involved, however, for the most part were Norfolk jackets or suit coats, not sports coats.

Short Pants

Wile most boys wore sport jackets with long pants, we have noted some boys wearing them with short pants. This of course was not always the case. Another factor here is age. Many parents did not buy sports coars and suits for younger boys and they were the boys most likely to wear short pants. We have noted boys wearing sporks jackets with short pants, although long pants were much more common. Here there appear to have been a range of social-class and regional factors. This is notable both in the photographic record and in available catalog advertisements and the photographic record. This has varied over time Some American boys, however, did wear them with shorts--as did some European boys, especially during the 1940s and 50s. Long pants became increasingly common in the 1960s, except for younger primary school-age children. While sports coats while primarily an American style, they were worn in other countries as well, and in some such as England, short pants were more common. One American reader trports, "Boys did not wear sports coats with short pants in California when I was growingb up in the early 1960s. It would have been as unimaginable as dressing them in Little Lord Fauntleroy suits. It might be somewhat less unimaginable now, although I've only seen something like that on a boy of about eight. I think that the difference is that shorts no longer have so much of a juvenile connotation. Indeed. But my point is that the social class structures were different in the east and west. I grew up in a wealthy suburb, with its share of millionaires, Fortune 500 CEOs, and old-money refugees from the east coast. For the most part, these people were glad to be far away from what they considered to be the phoniness and narrow-mindedness of the east coast millionaires' lifestyle. They sent their children to the local public schools, and then made sure that those schools provided a quality education for all children. They prefered meritocracy over aristocracy. While there were some who tried to live the la-de-dah lifestyle, they ran the risk of being laughed at. It's changed a bit since then, as there have been a lot of immigrants from other parts of the country and other parts of the world, who have brought their own ideas of how a wealthy person should live. But among the immigrants I've met are some who were dissatisfied being raised with servants waiting on them and prefer the way things are done here, exactly equivalent to the old-money refugees that my parents knew years ago. Also, this pattern is more particular to where I live than to the west in general. Los Angeles is very different, in that so much of the social structure is built around celebrities. One week this summer I vacationed with a group of 20-somethings who had known each other since they were little. One young woman had been living in LA for the last few years, and told her friends of her experiences partying with various celebrities. Her friends were amused at how "LA" she had become."

Long Pants

As sport coats or jackets were primarily an American style, boys most commonly wore them with long pants. The great proprtion of catalogs, advertisements, and the photographic redcord show boys wearing sports coats with long pants. A good example here is a Sears sports suit in 1941. Several factors are involved here. The sports coat was primarily an American style and most American boys wore long pants. Also age was a factor. Many boys did not get sports coats until they reached or approached their teen years and by that time they were mostly wearing long pants. The chronology of the sports coat was another factor. The sports jacket became popular atvabout the same time that even younger boys began wearing long pants in America.








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Created: 7:16 PM 8/21/2004
Last edited: 7:16 PM 8/21/2004