VERY wide leather belt and loose dungarees on male teen in 1930s?

• Jun 27, 2020

• #1

Abraham

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I'm curious if anyone here can explain the VERY wide leather belt and loose dungarees on this teen in the 1930s?

It almost seems like a kidney belt/gut belt that we used to wear when riding motorcycles back in the day. The loose pants look off for that period too, but maybe they were lose loose work dungarees? Thank you.

 

• Jun 27, 2020

• #2

Lean'n'mean

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Those ain't no dungarees, just a pair of denim work pants.
Wide leather belts are worn either to protect the lower back when lifting heavy objects or as some kind of back support. The lad doesn't look like he has lifted too many heavy things but there is something unnatural in the boy's posture..... & the length of his legs.
My guess is the wide fitting pants are either to conceal leg braces (polio was pretty common back then) or maybe he's wearing stilts.

 

• Jun 27, 2020

• #3

KILO NOVEMBER

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When I look at the "very wide leather belt" I see what appear to be three buttons aligned vertically. There's no buckle, which I would expect on a leather belt. It looks more like a fabric belt, maybe a part of the waist of the pants. It could be that the pants weren't mass produced, but maybe sewn by his mother

 

• Jun 27, 2020

• #4

Lean'n'mean

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^^^^ Yep, on magnifying the image, the "wide belt" does appear to be part of the pants & doesn't go all around the top like a belt.

 

• Jun 29, 2020

• #5

T

tropicalbob

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miami, fl

Lean'n'mean said:

Those ain't no dungarees, just a pair of denim work pants.
Wide leather belts are worn either to protect the lower back when lifting heavy objects or as some kind of back support. The lad doesn't look like he has lifted too many heavy things but there is something unnatural in the boy's posture..... & the length of his legs.
My guess is the wide fitting pants are either to conceal leg braces (polio was pretty common back then) or maybe he's wearing stilts.

Click to expand...

Exactly my first impressions.

 

• Jul 9, 2020

• #6

resortes805

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you guys are killing me! These are just wide leg jeans with a wide waistband, very common for kids in the depression. Just do a search on this site and you'll see tons of pictures of pants like these from Sears Catalogs and such.