Shorts and knickers

Even after they had escaped from the Fauntleroy costume boys continued for many years to wear short pants, both for everyday and for special occasions. Until about the age of seven or eight they would probably be dressed in shorts; later they were more apt to wear knickerbockers much like those their fathers put on for golf or bicycling. This is an early example of the rule still in force today that the sports clothes of the adult are the everyday clothes of the child. This principle has now been extended to spectator sports, and kids of both sexes (especially boys) go to school in tiny imitation football jerseys, baseball shirts and track shoes, often emblazoned with the insignia of their favorite team.

In America long trousers for small boys began to be available in the 1920s, but they were uncommon. Gradually the age at which one assumed one's first long pants was lowered, until by 1940 even three- and four-year-olds might wear them, especially for play. Today in America short pants are strictly warm-weather wear, and knickers are unknown.

In Britain the change from short to long pants was more grad­ual. Even now, many school uniforms are short-legged. On dark, cold winter days, elementary playgrounds are spotted with knobby, raw, scarred red knees that glow painfully between the gray or navy shorts and the long gray socks. Common sense would suggest that they be covered; but common sense counts for little in the history of dress. Besides, historically, bare knees have always suggested manly toughness: they are associated with the warlike costumes of the ancient Britons, the ancient and modern kilted Scots, empire-building explorers and heroic footballers. To cover them would be a sign of national weakness.