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Girls headwear is much more diverse than that worn by the boys. There is no one style worn by the girls that was as common as the peaked caps worn by the boys. One very common garment worn by the girls was the gym slip. A good example is the City Grammar School in 1938. That was a standard uniform item for many years. With very few exceptions, English girls do not wear trousers to school. There are a few exceptions. We have noted a few coed prep schools where girls during the Winter were allowed to wear cord long trouswrs like the boys. During the Summer, however, they were not allowed to wear short trousers. A HBC reader writes us that "In The Daily Telegraph newspaper (June 22, 2005) today there is an article about Broadstone Middle School which has now banned girls from wearing skirts to "protect their modesty" during activity lessons such as drama and music; all girls must now wear full length trousers to all lessons, even during very hot weather!" There were also differences in hosiery. Some girls wore grey kneesocks, but white ankle and kneesocks were very common. We have also noted long black stockings at many schools, although this became less common after World War II. Also footwear varied. Although both boys and girls wore school sandals, girls commonly wore strap shoes. There were also sturdy school oxfords, but they were styled somewhat differently than the boys' shoes. Hopefully some of our English readers will provide us some more information about girls' school uniform trends.
Girls headwear is much more diverse than that worn by the boys. There is no one style worn by the girls that was as common as the peaked caps worn by the boys. We have noted berets and boaters, but there were several other styles.
Boys and girls at British schools commonly wear the same sweaters. This is not true at all schools. A reader tells us, "At our Anglican primary school the girls wore navy blue cardigans and the boys grey pullovers." We believe that this was more common after World war II but since the 1970s most schools have the same sweaters for boys and girls.
Girls wore different styles of white blouses, sometimes with ties. Asfar as I know, they were not any grey blouses like boys' grey shirts. The blouses were worn with boy gym slips and skirts.
Gingham frocks were popular as girls school uniforms during the summer. It came in all colours depending on the school colours. A British reader tells us, "At our school we wore green and white checks. A friend at a Catholic school wore blue and white and so on." A reader sent us a school portrait showing the summer gingham frocks the girls wore along with the uniform the boys wore. He writes, "I associated that pattern with girls which is probably why I didn't like check. My Mum bought us all shirt and short sets one Summer and the shirts were in this pattern."
One very common garment worn by the girls was the gym slip. A good example is the City Grammar School in 1938. That was a standard uniform item for many years. The gym slip was notmally worn with a white blouse and tie.
With very few exceptions, English girls do not wear trousers to school. There are a few exceptions. We have noted a few coed prep schools where girls during the Winter were allowed to wear cord long trouswrs like the boys. During the Summer, however, they were not allowed to wear short trousers. A HBC reader writes us that "In The Daily Telegraph newspaper (June 22, 2005) today there is an article about Broadstone Middle School which has now banned girls from wearing skirts to "protect their modesty" during activity lessons such as drama and music; all girls must now wear full length trousers to all lessons, even during very hot weather!"
There were also differences in hosiery. Some girls wore grey kneesocks, but white ankle and kneesocks were very common. A British reader writes, "An obvious s difference between boys and girls school uniforms is white socks for girls and grey for boys." We have also noted long black stockings at many schools, although this became less common after World War II.
Also footwear varied. Although both boys and girls wore school sandals, girls commonly wore strap shoes. There were also sturdy school oxfords, but they were styled somewhat differently than the boys' shoes.
For some reason girls macs buttoned from left to right and boys right to left - I don't know why! Girls macs also tended to have hoods - but,as far as I recall, girls rarely wore wellies.
A reader writes, "When we were smaller we did P.E. in our underwear and boys always wore white briefs and singlets whereas girls wore navy-blue knickers and white vests."
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