Figure 1.-- The photograph was taken by unknown photographer around 1900-10 and shows a variety of children clothing during the Winter. I'm not sure why the children ar all mailing letters, perhaps they are to St. Nicolas. A reader writes, "Are you sure that the picture of the children in line fror the mailbox is from 1900-10? The bobbed hair on the girls looks to me more like the 1920s." Click on the image for discussion of the photograph..

Garments appearing in the late 19th century were still commonly worn in the early 20th century. Fancy outfits like Fauntleroy suits still worn. The major development, however, was the appaerance of the new short pants style. Kneepants and knickers were still common, especially with suits, but shorts pants appeared in the 1900s and grew in importance. appeared

Fauntleroy and Other Fancy Suits

The French fashion magazine, Moniteur de la mode published a interesting articles about fancy suits for younger boys during the early 20th century. Moniteur de la mode was the most important French magazine.

Sailor Suits

Other popular outfits appear to be sailor suits and above the knee knickers. A well dressed boy appears to have always worn a sailor hat or a variety of stylish caps.

Smocks

Smocks were still commonly worn by boys. Images on the Renoir family and Zola family at around the turn of the family show the children commonly wore smocks. Renoir often painted his children in smocks. Zola's son Jacques wore smocks even when he was 8 or 9 years old. It is not clear to me when the boys would wear their smocks nor do I know what they thought about smocks. They seemed to have been commonly worn around the home, but they also appear in outings to the park dressed in smocks. And of course boys wore blue smocks to school.

School Smocks

French elementary boys through the 1950s wore smocks to school, almost always black smocks. I'm not sure who issued the requirement, the local schools or national educational authorities. The smock does, however, appear to be very commonly worn by French school children during this period. I know less about what a French boy would do after school. Would he take his school smock off? Change into another smock for play or go without a smock after school? While smocks were commonly worn by French schoolboys in the early 20th Century, but not by all schoolboys. I'm not sure if the French Government changed the regulations, however, clearly some boy were not wearing smocks to school. One interesting account from 1900 describes a French boy who began the lycee wearing a sailor suit and to his embarassment--with the long curls that his mother dearly loved. France also had an important Catholic school system. I'm not sure about the uniform or dress requirements at these schools. I do not know if the Catholic boys were more or less likely to wear smocks. The smock was generally worn with short pants and often a beret. The image of a boy going off to school in a beret, smock, and book satchel on his back is a nostalgic one for many French people. Most boys wearing smocks during this period appear to be wearing kneepants or longish short pants, usually with long, but not kneesocks. Few boys wore knickers or long pants with school smocks.

Rompers

Tunics

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Created: January 5, 2003
Last updated: January 5, 2004