** Canadian school clothes : Chronology 1920s





Canadian Schoolwear: Chronology--The 1920s


Figure 1.-- This Canadian class photo (in an all-boys' school) was taken in 1929. The boys seem to range in age from about 11-13/14 years old. It may have been taken in a rural area where the same school educated both primary and secondary students. One boy is wearing long trousers, but nearly all the others wear knickers buckled above the knee with long black stockings obviously held up by hose supporters. Two of the boys seem to have knickers that fasten below the knee, not above it, and one of these lads seems to have knee socks rather than the more usual long stockings. See the second boy from the right in the front row, who is wearing lighter colored hose--either long stockings rolled at the top or actual knee socks (the photo is not very clear on this point). Some of the boys are wearing suits with with formal shirts and neckties. Others wear sweaters, some of them cardigan sweaters. The boys' bespectacled teacher stands in the back row with the older boys. He appears to be wearing a double breasted overcoat--or is this a double breasted suit worn over a cardigan sweater? We don't know what part of Canada is represented here.

Several of the Canadian 1920s images we have found show single gender classes. We are not sure that meant single gender schools. We do not yet have details about gender approacjes in Canadian schools. Most Canadian boys during the 1920s and 30s seem to have worn knickers to school, much like American boys. Long stockings and knickers were very common with Canadian boys during the 1920s. Some boys may have worn short pants and knee socks because of the British connection, but knickers and ling stockings seem note common. In the 1920s we mostly see the boys wearing long stocking with knickers. Knee socks may have been more common in urban areas and with private schools, some of which had British-style uniforms. Most of the school photographs we have found suggest that knickers were stndard at much more common at public schools. Many school class portraits show almost all of the boys wearing knickers. We have an image from a Nova Scotia school in 1928. We also have a 1929 photgraph from an unidentified school where most of the boys also wear knickers, mostly with long stockings (figure 1). All the boys we can see except one are wearing knickers. We are not sure what kind of school this was. Often only a few boys wear long pants, but here age was a factor. We have another image of an unidentified school. It is undated, but looks to us like it was taken in the 1920s. It looks to be a first or second year. We note quite a variety of outfits, including some Fauntleroy touches.









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Related Chronolgy Pages in the Boys' Historical Web Site
[The 1880s] [The 1930s] [The 1940s] [The 1930s] [The 1940s] [The 1950s] [The 1960s] [The 1970s] [The 1980s]



Related Style Pages in the Boys' Historical Web Site
[Long pants suits] [Short pants suits] [Socks] [Eton suits] [Jacket and trousers] [Blazer] [School sandals]



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Created: 10:27 PM 6/13/2007
Last updated: 4:41 AM 4/4/2021