The greatest change in children's clothing in the postwar period occurred when dressing boys in skirts until the age of four or five was discarded. Instead, little boys wore romper suits or short pants. School-age boys wore knickers of corduroy or wool with knee-length socks, and the change from knickers to that first pair of long pants was symbolic of the change from boy to man. Little girls wore dresses cut much like those of their mothersstraight and unfitted.

American school-age boys between the two world wars wore knicker suits. Little boys are boys from afluent families might wear shorts. Most boys of any size, especially if they were still in shorts,wanted their knickers as soon as possible. Knickers came to be almost a symbol of American boyhood as short pants came to symbolize British boyhood. Knickers were also worn in England where they were called "plus fours", referring to the additional cloth required. While worn in England and Europe they were much less common than in America. As short pants suit were more common on older boys who at 15 or 16 often were old enough to insist on longs rather than an intermediate knicker suit.

Knickers were usually worn with long stockings or knee socks. Long over the knee stockings were more common in the years before World War I and the 1920s. Boys usually wore their knickers buckled above the knees in the 1920s. Younger boys especially wore them above the knees. Boys would often prefer the more manly style of buckling them below the knee. Some mothers would insist that their son buckle his knickers above the knee. The boy, however, after leaving the house would rebuckle his knickers in the preferred below the knee position. This mother/son struggle of the 1920s was imortalized in the Music Man. The problem was eventually resolved in the 1930s as shorts became more common for younger boys. Knickers for older boys were made slightly longer and the fashion of buckling them below the knee became accepted. Some American boys, especially during the summer would wear their knickers with ankel socks.

Boys in the 1920s might wear knickers during high school or at least the first few years of high school. By the late 1930s and early 1940s boys generally wore knickers in grade school and would get their first long pants suit at least by the time they were 13 or 14.

After I entered Junior High, I wore long pants to school. (Thank goodness as I would have been the only boy in shorts. There were, however, some boys still wearing knickers.) As soon as I came home from school, however, I had to change intor short pants. This included the only short pants suit I had, which I had to wear to church every Sunday and for other dress occasions. The war years according to my mother, prohibited us to but long pants. I guess I wore short pants until I was fifteen years old and got my first long pants suit.

I felt strongly on the matter, but so did mom and she just wouldn't budge, she was old fashioned and wasn't about to changer her mind no matter how much I pleaded on the matter. My dad was helpful, but when I grew out of the knickers so quickkly--that was end of me wearing them. I must have grown almost 6 inches in only 8 months. Because the Depression was still on and my mother was thrifty, we were not going buy any knickers, that wouldn't even last a year. I was stuck. I tried my best to convince mother to let me wear long pants, but that was is an impossible task. I got nowhere in our discussions. She kept saying, Your Uncles wore short pants until they were 16 years old. She even had the photographs in the albums to prove it! I can still rember her saying, Boys should dress in boys clothing and you are not a man yet. Money was tight in the Depression, but we were pretty well off and that was not the real issue. It was a one way argument, even dad could not convince her.

As I got older, I got all kinds of comments about my shorts. The other boys teased me quite a bit about still wearing shorts as I got older. But I was a big and strong and most really didn't didn't push it to far as they didn't want to mess with me. I got along pretty well with girls. Because of my height, they would call me high pockets. Older adults would also sometimes say things. This often happened when we went to church on Sunday I would always wear my navy short pants suit. Some of the younger kids that were wearing knickers, would sometimes make some remarks. In some instances they were heard by their parents and occasionally I noticed that they were wearing shorts the next Sunday.

Note: Space limitations do not permit me to provide the full version of the author's experiences. The full versin, however, is available on the expanded Boys Historical Clothing web site. For details click here >>>>>> Expanded Site.

Additional Information

• Boyhood memories
• First long pants