Boys didn’t have much choice in clothing in the 1940s. “Young gentlemen” were expected to behave like gentlemen, and to dress much like their fathers. The Eton boy style, borrowed from the famous public school in England, suggested exclusivity and good breeding, and became very popular in America in the 40s and 50s for boys under five.

The distinctive Eton suit coat had no lapel, which made the white collar of the oxford shirt very evident, especially as the latter was worn tieless. The oxford, in fact, was often replaced by a rounded peter pan collar. An Eton cap, white knee socks, and a pair of above-the-knee short pants called knickers or “suspender shorts” completed the outfit.

The Eton suit wasn’t the school’s first fashion export.  The short, above-the-ear schoolboy haircut was aped by girls and young ladies in the 1920s, who called it the “Eton crop.” But the conservative Eton suit made a far bigger splash. At a time when casual wear wasn’t much different from one’s finest Sunday outfit, the Eton suit made every little boy a dashing young fellow Mom and Dad could show off proudly.