* English skirted school garments pinafores








English School Uniform Skirted Garments: Pinafores


Figure 1.--Here we have a school group we think in in the 1900s. The girls are of different age so it may have been a small private school. We have no idea what the 1 on the board means. We think it was a girls school with little brothers allowed. All thr girls sem to be earing pinafores over their dresses. Many are very fancy pinfores.

The pinafore was very commonly worn to school by girls in the 19th and very early-20th century. We do not have a lot of chronological information. We do not know if pinafores were worn in the 18th century, but we believe that they appeared bybthe late-18th century. As best we can tell, pinafores were worn througout the 19th century, although we have very little informtion on the early-19th century. This was before England began building a state education system. We have more infomtion after mid-century when we begin to find photographic images. Available school portaits show many girls wraring pinafore. Often almost all the girls are wearing pinafores. The poinafore was worn as a protective garment. Two important factors were at play here. First clothes were expensive in the 19th century. A much larger percentg of family income went for clothes than is the case today. Second, laundry was a much more labor intensive undertaking than today. Mothers had to devote an entire day for the family laundry and it was a very labor intensive task, Thus pinafores served a very useful purpse, lowering the laundry needs byprotecting clothes. While the pinafore was a protective garment, we not only see plain , utilitarian pinafores, but also fabcy pinafores with frilly lace abd ruffles. We also note some pre-school boys wearing pinafores. And they were apparently worn at some work house schools by both boys and girls as an inexpensive and utilitarian garment.








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Created: 8:12 AM 7/15/2014
Last updated: 8:12 AM 7/15/2014