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Teenagers wore adult clothes at that time. The "teen" is a relatively new phenomenon. There was no teen culture until television came along. I'm pretty sure "teendom" was socially constructed in the 1950s. In most Western countries in 1912 compulsory schooling ended at age 14 or slightly earlier, and most kids had to start work at 14. They were not well paid for the first few years; most were expected by their parents to contribute subtantially to the cost of staying at home, and very few had money for inessential clothing. As stated in the second answer, it was in the 1950s boom that 'teenagerdom' became a kind of cult, with specific clothes, hair styles and music. Clothing manufacturers and record companies worked out by the late 1950s this group of the population had spare cash and targeted them. If one looks at pre-1950s group photos of people in their teens it is striking that they all seem to want to look as grown up as possible. To some extent this even continued well into the 1960s.

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17y ago

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