Bermuda Shorts were the strangest male fashion fad to come along in the 1950s.
Businessmen would actually wear the big, baggy shorts to work during the summer months, combining them with suit jackets, dress shirts, ties and knee-length socks for a look that could only be called ‘indescribable’.
The first Americans to adopt the style were vacationers on the island of Bermuda, a British colony in the East Atlantic. Policemen there dressed like British soldiers in the desert, with knee-length khaki shorts and white knee socks.
Women tourists began wearing the shorts because they couldn’t wear bathing suits as Bermuda law didn’t allow women to show their thighs on the beach. Soon their husbands were wearing the cool, comfortable shorts, too.
As the fashion made its way to the US mainland, the khaki fabric was replaced by bold colours and plaids.
