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HBC at this time has developed some information on Bolivian history. We have, however, very little information on Bolivian boys' clothes. A HBC reader reports, "I lived over 10 years in Bolivia where boys as young
as 10 wore long trousers but usually short ones, also in varying lengths. Some were as short as the Japanese, normally though longer shorts, but well above the knee were most common up to the age of about 13. They also wore dark blue or black suits with short jackets so they wouldn't overlap the shorts. I worked for a while in a textile store where customers could buy remnants at discounted prices. I remember a couple buying one piece for the jacket and another for the short when the father said, `The jacket will be longer than the pants.' And sometimes so they were." Bolivian school children wear white smocks.
Nuestro sitio web esta muy interesante de recibir informacion desde bolivianos sobre la ropa de niños en su pais. Nuestro sitio Ropa Historico de Niño (HBC) es un sitio en ingles, pero nosotros estamos dispuestos de recibir contribuciones en español. Tales contribuciones seran puestos en nuesto sitio en ambos lenguas.
Western Bolivia was inhabited by the Aymará people. They dominated the area around Lake Titicaca. The war-like Inca conquered them and added them to their emense empire. The Spanish at first focused on the Inca centers in Peru because they were close to the coast and the Inca treasures could be more easily ceased and transported. The Spanish gradually moved into Bolivia which they called Alto Peru (Upper Peru). The Spanish reduced the Native Americans to a form of serfdom little different than slavery. The remoteness of the high Andes helped limit the numbers of Spanish reaching Alto Peru. This had the affect of protecting the Native Americans from the European diseases that so ravaged populations in other areas of the Americas. An extremely stratified society with an elite Spanish land-owning class developed, the continuing impact ofcwhich still affects moden Bolivia. The Spanish discovered a famulosly rich silver vein near Potosi (1544). Potosi became the largest Spanish settlement in South America. The country's independent life was marked by an extended period of domestic power struggles and instability. The country was ruled by a series of dictators called cauldillos. Geography and internal divisions made it difficult for Bolivia to defend the poorly defined borders of Alto Peru. Continued instability in the 20th century, conservative military rule, and socialist economic reforms have left Bolivia the poorest country in South America.
HBC at this time has very little information on Bolivian boys' clothes. A HBC reader reports in the 1950s that boys as young
as 10 wore long trousers but usually short ones, also in varying lengths. Blue and black suits with long and short trousrs were noted. Many Bolivian school children currently wear white school smocks.
Bolivia is one of the Latin American countries where school children
wear smocks. As in Argentina and Uruguay, the children wear white smocks. I'm not sure why these three countries have selected white smocks. Nor do I know about the situation in neighboring Paraguay. The girls wear back buttoning smocks with small Peter Pan collars. The boys
wear front buttoning lab-type styles. I have very limited information on Bolivia and do not know how extensively the smock is worn country wide.
A HBC reader reports, "I lived over 10 years in Bolivia where boys as young
as 10 wore long trousers but usually short ones, also in varying lengths. Some were as short as the Japanese, normally though longer shorts, but well above the knee were most common up to the age of about 13. They also wore dark blue or black suits with short jackets so they wouldn't overlap the shorts. I worked for a while in a textile store where customers could buy remnants at discounted prices. I remember a couple buying one piece for the jacket and another for the short when the father said, `The jacket will be longer than the pants.' And sometimes so they were." Bolivian school children wear white smocks.
HBC currently has only one report on Bolivian boys clothing. It is from a foreigner living in Bolivia. Hopefully Bolivians will also provide us some information on fasions in their country.
My family emigrated to Bolivia from Germany in the 1940s. I lived in La Paz, Bolivia in the 1940's and early 1950's. I made short visits to Cochabamba, Oruro, Potosi and Santa Cruz, but stayed most of the time in La Paz, especially during my school years. This is what
I remember,
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