Knickerbockers

F. Cruwys

1937 · wool · Costume Institute

Plus fours are a version of knickers so called because the traditional style was four inches longer and had fuller legs. They were worn for outdoor activities and sports, and were popularized in the 1920s by the Duke of Windsor, who preferred them for his hunting and sporting excursions. The Duke's fashion choices were widely copied. In 1937, when this pair of plus fours was purchased, the Duke of Windsor was very much in the limelight as he had abdicated his right to the throne of England as King George V to marry the American Wallis Simpson.

Artist

F. Cruwys

Date

1937

Medium

wool

Culture

British

Department

Costume Institute

Credit line

Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Stanley Mortimer, 1976