* vintage boys' clothing school uniforms








Vintage Clothing: School Uniforms


Figure 1.--An Australian reader has provided us some images of Australian scgool garments. They of course show a British influence. The blazer here is from Pulteney Grammar school. It is a black blazer with white braiding to the edges and pockets. Notice the destinctive badge. School like this once had caps but were gradually discontinued, probably in the 1970s.

Vintage clothing provides some very useful information on fashion and garments that are difficult to dectect in photograohic inahes sych as backs, coior, construction, fabrics, and other characteristics of the garments. This the vintage clothing section provides a useful supplement to ouir largely phitographic based historical assessment. We have not noted many offerings for school uniforms on E-bay where collectors contributing to HBC find many vintage clothing items. This is probably becase most items listed on E-bay are American and American students until recently have not normally worn uniforms. We have noted a number of British school items are school garments from related British Empire countries where British school styles were also worn. We have noted some Soviet era school uniforms.

America

We have not noted many offerings for school uniforms on E-bay where collectors contributing to HBC find many vintage clothing items. This is probably becase most items listed on E-bay are American and American students until recently have not normally worn uniforms.

Australia

An Australian reader has provided us some images of Australian scgool garments. They of course show a British influence. One of the most destinctive item was the school blazer done in a wide range of colors. These blazers were once commonly worn, but by the 1980s were mostly worn at private schools. The blazer here is from Pulteney Grammar school (figure 1). It is a black blazer with white braiding to the edges and pockets. The Christian Brothers College has a very similar blazer, only done in purple rather than in black. Notice the destinctive badges. Schools once had matching caps but were gradually discontinued, probably in the 1970s. Some private schools retained them for the younger boys.

England

No country has had a greater infuence in school uniform than England. English school uniforms styles are today worn around the world. This was in part due to the workd-wide streach of the British Empire. There were, however, many countries influenced by England that were not part of the Empire, such as the United States. Mant other coutries also adopted English style schoolwear, including countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and Oceania. English styles have not only influenced school uniform styles, but general styles children wore to school--some becanme classic school styles. English school styles were largely developed at the country's famous public (private secondary) boarding schools. They were adopted at the grammar (day secondary) schools. Only after World War II did state primary begin adopting uniforms. The British uniform styles have affected school uniforms all over the world. The garnents include headwear, blazers, suyits, shirts collars, ties, pants, hosiery and footwear. We are archived a range of these garments for our HBC website because vintage garments provide useful infornmatiion not readily discerable from the photographic record.

Japan

Many Japanese schools require basic school uniforms. Almost all secondary schools require uniforms and about a third of the primary schools. Each school decides if its wants a uniform and if so what the uniform should be, There are various options for the primary schools. Many primary schools chose a uniform of white shirt and blue shorts for the boys and white blouse and blue skirt for the girls. This has been a common style at primary schools since the 1960s. A good example is a white shirt and blue shorts offered in an unidentified internet catalog during 2010. The secondary unforms are more standard. The boys wear cadet uniforms and the girls wear sailor suits. Some schools in recent years have adopted British-looking blazer uniforms and neck ties.

Soviet Union

We have archived a Soviet boy's school uniform from the 1980s. We have also archived a Soviet girl's school uniform. It came from the Ukraine, but the same uniform was worn throughout the Soviet Union. It is not dated, but probably was worn in the 1980s.






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Created: 7:58 AM 8/5/2006
Last updated: 3:55 PM 11/2/2020