Figure 1.--These American children were photographed in Reading, Pennsylvania, probably in the 1910s. The older btother wears a sailor tunic, but note how short the tunic is, looking somkewhat like a middy blouse. These tunic suiys were normally worn with knickers, but actual sailor suits were less common with knickers. |
Knicker sailor suits do not seem as common as either shorts pants or long pants sailor suits. While not the most common style of pants for sailor suits, they were worn by English boys in the late 19th century. They were also worn by American boys, especially in the 1910s and 20s. Available images are often not clear enough to show the type of hem closures that the knickers had. We note boys wearing both above and below the knees knickers, generally with long stockings rather than kneesocks. Dark long stockings seem the most common. In the late 1910s and early 20s, a few boys wore above the knee knickers asiloar suits with kneesocks.
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