Hi Susan,
Your special Christmas issue is wonderful.
In several back issues there
is mention of the stockings worn by boys with shorts in the thirties and
even into the forties. Generally,
they would be worn almost
from infancy up to age six or seven, when most boys switched to short pants
worn with knee socks.
Curiously, up to this age,
both boys and girls wore pretty much the same type of stockings, the boys
with shorts, and the girls with
dresses. The stockings
worn by the girls were usually full leg length. Those worn by the
boys were shorter, and often weren't even
completely covered by the
shorts.
The girls and boys also used identical hose supporters for their stockings. There were two types:
The most popular types were
variations of over the shoulder bodices supporting a waist strap from which
the garters were hung.
There was a single garter
(or a pair in a Y) for each leg, in front or at the side.
The second type were pinned onto underwear or shirt, etc.
I have attached several
*.jpg files from old Sears catalogs, which illustrate the various types
of stocking supporters. Boys and girls
were supplied from the same
catalog pages, and, when very young, thought it quite natural to wear the
same stockings and
suspenders. I well
remember wearing these over-the-shoulder bodices with a pair of Y
garters on the side; they had to be let down
all the way because my stockings
were so short.
At about age six, the girls
began to switch to garterbelts with four garters to hold up their stockings.
The boys began to rebel
against the stockings and
garters, which they now saw as sissy girls' clothing. That probably
has something to do with the effectiveness of petticoat discipline as so
wonderfully related in your monthly.
Andrew
