Figure 1.--This English school boy, probably at a prep school, wears a standard gray shirt and tie. The image is undated, but we would guess it was painted in the 1950s.

The standard school boy shirt after Eton collars disappeared during the 1930s were grey straight collared shirts. Gray shirts were considered paractical for schoolwear because they did not show the dirt as much as a white shirt. For dress occasions a white shirt was usually substituted. Some elementary schools in recent years have intoduced more casual white or blue polo-style shirts. Artex shirts were a popular choice. Most shirts buttoned all down the front. A Rugby style which buttoned only part of the way was popular in the 1950s, but were not common after the 1960s. Rugby shirts contine to be worn in Australia and New Zealand during the 1990s. Mongramed shirts have not been common even in private scgools, but some schools have adopted them in recent years. School uniform shirts after the demise of Eton collars were always standard pointed collars. Although the size of the collars have varied slightly with the times, we have never noted styles like button-downs or tabs. While schools had a number of fairlu standard shirts, rules about wearing ties have varied substantially, especially sdice the 1960s.

Style

Emgland has helped to set some school shirt styles. This seems to have been especially true of the more formal styles. TheEton collar was an English creation. The Eton collar was commonly worn for years during the late 19th and early 30th century. It was worn by boys a wide variety of schools. This was not a short, but rather a shirt waist worn with a detachable Eton collar. It does not look to have been a very comfortable style, but it was certainly widely worn. School uniform shirts after the demise of Eton collars were always standard pointed collars. Although the size of the collars have varied slightly with the times, we have never noted styles like button-downs or tabs.The standard school boy shirt after Eton collars disappeared during the 1930s were grey straight collared shirts. English school boys for years wore a classic grey shirt, a practical color for a boys as it did not show dirt like a white shirt. I'm not sure when bots began wearing grey shirts, but they were already wide spread by the 1930s. English school boys in the 1950s wore two basic styles of shirts, mostly long sleeves. The most common were the Rugby style where the buttons only went half way down the shirt. The other style was the regular shirt which buttoned all the way. Both styles were usually grey except for special occasions. There was a third less common shirt, the Aertex shirt, which was usualy grey with an open weave material. It was generally short sleeved and worn in the summer. The material in the 1950s was mainly of a wool mixture (Viyella), making for a warm, rather heavy shirt. Whilst the Vyella shirts are still available, at about L30 per shirt, they cost mist more than the more common L5 cotton shirts moat boys now wear. The Rugby stle declined in popularity during the 1970s. Grey shirts are still comonly worn, but not as universally as in the 1950s. They are still very common in preparatory schools and to aleeser extent for the older boys in public schools. Grey shirts are not very common in state secondary schools where sweat shirts are replacing traditional blazers. In recent years we have noted English boys wearing a variety of more informal shirts such as polp shirts. In some cases these informal shirts were worn seasonally.

Colors

We have noted quite a range of colors being used for shirts at English schools. The standard school uniform shirt for years was a grey shirt. This was particularly important when laundry was a lot more labor intensive than is the case today. Gray shirts were considered paractical for schoolwear because they did not show the dirt as much as a white shirt. For dress occasions a white shirt was usually substituted. Some elementary schools in recent years have intoduced more casual white or blue polo-style shirts, especially during the summer. Although not nearly as common, we have also noted green and yellow shirts. Almost always light colors are used. We have noted a few schools where dark blue shirts were worn.

Material

We do not know much about the material used for school shirts. Artex shirts were a popular choice for the spring term when the weather warmed up. Some of the grey shirts were made from a blended cotton-wool fabric. Some were flannel. An English reader recalls that the shirts were nice and warm when worn with sweaters on cold days. Several readers recall the white nylon dress shirts worn in the 1970s. Here there are differences of opinion. One reader, Bill, did not like them at all. He thought that they were cold and clammy. Another boy, Edward also did not like them, although it was not because they were not comfortable. Another reader, Mark, who wore them in his comprehensive school during the 1970s. He rather liked them. I do not knpw much ablout these nylon shirts, but believe that they had generally gone outbof style by the 1980s.

Patterns

A few private schools had shirts with paterns. These were normally checks. An English reader writes, "A photo on HBC shows a boy wearung a shirt with rather large checks. There are several Prep schools in the UK which have checked shirts for the boys which are not dissimilar to the girls gingham school dresses therefore a much tighter checked pattern. Colours tend to be blue, green, yellow but I have also seen pink used. I'd guess that the boys were not too happy about that colour! You would not see such shirts worn in state schools as they are obviously more expensive."

Buttoning

Most shirts buttoned all down the front. A Rugby style which buttoned only part of the way was popular in the 1950s, but were not common after the 1960s. Rugby shirts contine to be worn in Australia and New Zealand during the 1990s.

Monograms

Mongramed shirts have not been common even in private scgools, but some schools have adopted them in recent years.

Ties

While schools had a number of fairly standard shirts, rules about wearing ties have varied substantially, especially sdice the 1960s.

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Created: October 25, 2002
Last updated: 5:11 AM 5/28/2008