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The garment most associated with French schools during the 19th and much of the 20th century was the school smock. They were worn by both boys andvgirls. We are not sure when the school smock first appeared. It was mandated by the Third Republic as part of educatiinal reforms. Some children may have worn smocks ti school mbefore this. We are not sure, but we see many children wearinf school smocks (1870s). We notice a lot of 19th century photographs, however, where French boys are not wearing socks. Other important garments were berets, military caps and jackets, and knee pants. Military uniforms were commonly worn by lycee boys.
Military uniforms were commonly worn at French schools during the 19th century. I do not yet have details, however, on just what styles were worn during what period, or just how this varied over the different changes in Government. Both single and double breasted tunics were worn. Boys also wore a kind of peaked military cap. We have noted students at French lycée (secondary schools) wearing military style uniforms. We do not know, however, how common this was or during what periods these military uniforms were worn. France had a very centralized school system. These uniforms may have been established by national school authorities, but at this time we just do not know. We have noted different syles of uniforms worn by French lycée boys.
Berets were commonly worn by French school boys. I'm not sure when the beret. The major event affecting schoolwear was the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71). became commonly worn by French boys, but it was quite common by the late 19th century.
We are not sure when the smock was first worn by French school children. It's introduction by the new Third Republic in the early 1870s made it mandatory at schools throughout France as part of educatiinal reforms. We do not know if the smock was worn to school to any extent before this. The smock was viewed as a very democratic garment, hiding the inexpensive clothes that might embarrass pooer children. It was in keeping with the styles of the day as both boys and girls commonly wore smocks, altough I am not sure if they were commonly worn to school. France has such a centralized, highly respected educational system, that the decision was relatively easy to implement. I'm not sure to just what age boys wore smocks. Presumably it was just elementary schools, but we have seen photographs showing what appear to be younger teenagers wearing smocks as well as younger boys. Girls wore smocks to an older age. All of the boys in the 1889 painting here are wearing school smocks, mostly without white collars (figure 1). We had though that French boys mostly wore black school smocks, but here we see a range of colors.
The sailor suit became increasingly popular for boys in the late 19th century. I have less information on how commonly they were worn to school at mid-century. Many boys may have worn sailor suits under their smocks. At schools where smocks were not worn, sailor suits were common. By the turn of the 20th century, sailor suits were commonly worn by boys to school. Most boys wore their sailor suits with kneepants.
French boys appear to have commonly wore long pants to school in the early 19th century. Kneepants became increasingly common after the mid-19th century. Younger boys wearing snmocks by the 1870s, mostly wore them with kneepants.
I am not sure what kind of socks French boys wore in the early 19th century, but by the late 19th century most boys were wearing three-quarter length socks with kneepants.
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