The mass media was to have a powerful impact on fashion. TV began to leave it's imprint on America in the early 1950s.
Five million Americans had a TV set by 1950. TV of the 1950s was
more a
medium for letting people see what was being worn than for promoting
new
styles. Boys and girls both wanted to wear the fashion they saw on TV. There
was still little fashion advertising, TV was busy selling cigarettes, cars, and soap
powder. Still children saw the fashions worn on the shows and wanted them rather than the
"nice" clothes in which mom might want to dress them. TV did,
however, help to bring color to mens' and boys' dress shirts since blue shirts on TV
announcers looked "whiter" than white shirts on black-and-white TV. Soon shirt
manufacturers began producing colored dress shirts. Pink was often combined
with popular gray flannel suits. These suits had become so closely associated with
the stereotype of the high-powered business executive that a 1950s
novel about a
successful corporate executive was titled The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit.
Navy blue or black were the conservative standards for boys' suits, although
some flashier patterns were available for jackets some of which were made
of two different contrasting patterns. Some employers objected to the
informality of colored shirts and banned them
from their offices. The popular "t" shirt introduced by GIs in the 1940s gained
fashionability when Marlon Brando wore
them in the 1951
film Streetcar Named Desire. "T" shirts moved rapidly from underwear to
sportswear.
Boys' clothing conventions were closely mirrored on the TV. A few
shows in the late 1940s and early 1950s had boys in shorts. But by
1953-54 it was very rare to see a boy of any age in dressy shorts and
knee socks or even play shorts. American boys that did wear shorts
were
often depicted as
spoiled rich kids. All the major family sitcoms
with kids (Father Knows Best, Life with Riley, Lassie,
Leave It to Beaver,
Ozzie and Harriet, ect,) had their boys of all ages in longs,
even for play. One show which many boys in America followed, secretely wishing
they had moms and dads like Beave and Wally, was Leave it to Beaver.
In fact one of the real crises of Beaver's life was when
Aunt Martha
arrived and soon
outfitted him in a short pants suit and knee socks. She soon
sent him off
to Sunday school dressed in his new suit. The results were disatrous. The other children, they were
only second graders, teased him about his bare knees and for wearing
girls' socks. Boys in the 1950s wore suits and jackets much less than in the
past. Jacket lapels were broad as in the 1940s, but had narrowed
by the end of the decade. A popular jacket style in the late
1940s-early/mid1950s was a two color jacket. Almost always boys in
that style would be in longs. Short pants suits generally were a
more conservative blue or black.
The Eton suit with a small collarless jacket was the rage for
smaller boys. Boys wearing Eton suits were almost always outfitted
with shorts, although often with ankle rather than knee socks which
some boys saw as girlish. At about 7 or 8 boys would be outfitted in
a more adult looking jacket. Some would continue wearing shorts,
especially boys from affluent until about 11 or 12, but most would
wear long pants suits. There were still dress-up clothes in the youthful wardrobe.
Lots more exciting, however, were the school and sports outfits. Young people
now lived in an age calling for simple, casual tailored garments,
smart-looking yet thoroughly comfortable and really fun-clothes.
Such dress has settled into a pattern. For both sexes there were
principally sweaters, pullons, all kinds of
knockabout jackets, shorts, slacks and for girls, the attractive
dirndl skirts, and all kinds of outer coats of varied length
practical for sports and school wear.
The average American boy during the 1950s would play in a "t"
shirt, often with broad colored horizontal stripes, blue jeans, and
Keds. Most boys saw shorts as little boys and girls clothes.
Interestingly some boys would play in jeans, but have to dress up in
a short pants suit. The opposite of the modern boy who more
commonly wears play shorts , but has a long pants suit for dress.
Some boys did play in shorts, mostly boys up to 10 or 11. Play
shorts were most common in the south and California. The style were
boxers with elasticized waists, the length was much shorter than
common during the 1940s. Shorts were commonly worn at summer camps.
The big hit in the 1950s were blue jeans or levis for
roughing it. They were still not thought of as fasinable. Accessories
too numerous to itemize appeared. All American boys and many girls wanted to wear
them. They were still not
considered to be stylish, but they were what boys wanted to wear
when they could get away with it. Some came
with flannel linings and were often worn by elementary school
children. They were bammed at most secondary schools. The popular
jeans would come into their own in the
1960s A few American private schools required boys to attend in jackets and
shorts, but this involved a relatively small number of boys,
primarily as prestigious northeastern schools. American
public schools had no uniform requirement. High schools did have
dress codes, many of which prohibited jeans and shorts. Elementary
schools were more flexible, but few boys wore shorts to school,
especially after the first or second grade, although this varied
somewhat by region. The
Scouting movement continued to spread around the world.
Scouting in America was extremely popular during the 1950s. A large part
of American boys participated as Cubs or Scouts. The uniform changed
little in the 1950s. Boy Scouts wore an olive green uniorm, generally with
campaign caps. Cubs wore blue uniforms with yellow trim and
kerchiefs. Cub caps continued to be the peaked caps (same style as
British school caps) first introduced
by British wolf cubs. American Boy
Scouts during the 1950s mostly wore longs. When knickers went
out of
style, boys mostly shifted to longs rather than shorts--except at
camps and jamborees. Some Scout troops did wear shorts with matching
plain colored knee socks. The short pants uniform was
most common in California and the Southern states. In several
cases the troops wore the short pants uniform during the summer. Other
troops allowed the boys to decide individually. Over most of the
country, however most
American Scouts generally wore longs. This was particularly true of
Cub packs and few American Cubs wore the short pants uniform. American boys wore sturdy oxfords to school and for dress up
occasions. Penny loafers and saddle shoes were worn by both girls and
boys. For play there were sneakers, especially Keds. Very little
boys, especially in affluent families, might be dressed in closed-toe
red sandals. These were
considered girlish shoes and thus were not worn by boys of any age.
In tailored suits it is the
Chanel model for girls and the rough tweed for boys.
Fashion reached all accesories, even the dowdy old raincoat which
is no longer what a raincoat used to be. New
smart-looking styles appeared. It was more utilitarian than ever, serving as a
all-around coat of water-repellent cotton or wool with removable
linings that button, snap or zip in or out according to the needs of
the weather. Winter coats are lined with thick, fuzzy synthetic pile
that feels and looks like fur.
Demographic trend had a powerful impact on fashion. As postwar
families moved to the suburbs in increasing numbers, they adopted
a more open lifestyle with fewer formal conventions about dress.
More mothers sought jobs outside the home. Those that did stay home
no longer wore dowdy housedresses, but found the casual pants and tops they were used
to wearing for sports to be comfortable and convenient not only for working in the
home, but also for transporting the children of the baby boom or for picking up
commuting husbands. In the summers, they and their husbands wore
knee-length
Bermuda shorts to society parties and a few bold men even wore
Bermuda shorts business suits or
tuxedos with knee socks--a style that did not endure. Boys were more conservative, strenuosly resisting short pants for dress wear.
II. Europe
Dress styles were decidedly more formal and conservative in every
large city in Europe, than in our casual and easygoing United States.
Girls are dressed to look like girls and boys to look like boys.
Children stay children in Europe until they are well along in their
teens. Boys dressed up in short pants suits and knee socks until they are at
least 13 or 14, some even longer. Short pants suits were worn even in the
Winter. On the Continent at the beginning of the decade quite old
boys still wore short pants suit, but by the later part of the decade
it became rarer to see boys over 13 so dressed. On the Continent
many boys wore smocks to school (especially Italy) until about
13. French and Italian elementary boys still wore smocks to school, usually
over short pants.
Many fashion writers seem to think
this a sensible and attractive mode of dress. Long-trousered suits
on boys 12 and under had a singularly unfortunate way of making them
look like dwarfs or midgets. I'm not talking about blue jeans or long
corduroys, which are fine for country wear at home, but which
certainly had no place along the stately boulevards of any European
city. Play clothes were also more than formal. Shirts and knee socks
perdominated.
The hallmark of clothes worn by well brought up European
children
and young people is restraint and the same classic, conservative
look as their parents. Fantasy and eccentricity had no more place
in children's wardrobes than they do in their parents'. Clothes that
make 6-year-old boys look like "Little Men," two-piece bathing suits
for girls under 14, anything frou-frou or faddy may be harmlessly
ridiculous in Anerica, but abroad might appear downright appalling.
Continental styles were much shorter. At the beginning of the
decade it was still not unusual to see fairly old boys still in
shorts.
The situation in England was quite different. Uniforms were
required at most schools. Most elementary
British boys were less likely to have play shorts. They might
wear an old pair of grey school shorts. Some wore cord shorts. The
length was still fairly long, just above knee level. Mothers still
resisted buying jeans.
The shoe situation in Britain was much different than in America.
British schoolboys were less likely to wear sneakers and instead
wore closed toe sandals with a "t" strap to school and for play after school.
Christopher Wagner
Navigate the Historic Boys' Clothing Web Site: Navigate the Historic Boys' Clothing Web chronological pages:
Knickers had disapperared in America during the
1940s. Some younger boys instead now wore
short pants suits. A few younger teenagers in well to do families might wear shorts
until they were 12 or even 13. Most American
boys by the time they were 7 or 8 years old, however, wanted longs and could be
quite insistent. For many it was the first time they drew that
"line in the sand" with their mothers
that is part of growing up. Many mothers, however,
thought their sons looked better in shorts, but for all but the
strongest willed--it was a losing battle. Many men who grew up in
this era can recall long running
discussions with their mothers on the subject.
Most American boys insisted on a
long pants suits
instead, as soon as they were old enough to prevail.
III. England
school boys wore grey shorts and knee socks to school. Some boys
might even wear shorts for the first few years of their secondary
school. Some schools even required it along with a blazer and tie.
School caps were also still common, but by the end of the decade had
began to decline.
Television and Movies: Often provide accurate costuming showing clothing styles.
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