Figure 1.--This was the cover of "The Hungarian News" (the Hungarian monthly magazine issued in USSR), about 1980. Note that the boy's short pants s are very short-cut, but, on contrary, the girl wears very long skirts. Styles 20 years later in 2000 were just the opposite. Both children wear the blue smock-jacket common worn in Hungarian schools.

Hungarian boys did not wear school uniforms, but some information is available on schoolwear. At least some elementary level boys appear to have work smocks. Hungarian boys in the early 20th century appear to have worn a kind of military-styled peaked cap. This appears to have been a style for secondary schools. I'm not sure what elementay-level boys wore. Boys in the 1960s were wearing a wide variety of collared and casual shirts, such as "T" shirts under their school smocks. The principal schoolwear item appears to have been a blue jacket-like smock that both boys and girls wore. We note quiye a few images of Hungaraian school children wearing what look like blue smocks. They are styled rather like front buttoning jackets. HBC is unsure how common this was, but it looks to have been very common. Hungary at the time had a Communist Government with a very centralized school system. Hungarian boys through the first half of the 20th century appear to have worn kneepants and short pants to school. Most boys appear to have worn lace-up shoes, but a few boys in the 1960s also wore closed-toe sandals that looked rather like English school sandals. HBC is unsure if sandals were more common in earlier years. Boys at school wearing shortpants in the early 20th century commonly wore dark colored three-quarter length socks or kneesocks. Knee socks became more common in the inter-war period. The declining number of boys wearing shorts by the 1960s commonly wore them with kneesocks, both white and colored kneespcks. Boys in the 1960s often had portfolio-style bookbags. Nany boys seem to have had similar book bags. I do not think that the styles were required by the schools, but may have reflected the limited availability of comsumer products in Eastern European Communist countries.

Caps

Hungarian boys in the early 20th century appear to have worn a kind of military-styled peaked cap. This appears to have been a style for secondary schools. I'm not sure what elementay-level boys wore.

Shirts

Boys in the 1960s were wearing a wide variety of collared and casual shirts, such as "T" shirts under their school smocks.

School Smocks

The principal schoolwear item appears to have been a blue jacket-like smock that both boys and girls wore. We note quite a few images of Hungaraian school children wearing what look like blue smocks. They are styled rather like front buttoning jackets. A 1969 film shows Hungarian boys wearing blue front-buttoning school smocks. HBC is unsure how common this was, but it looks to have been very common. The smock appears to have been required as all the boys in the film were wearing them. Hungary at the time had a Communist Government with a very centralized school system. School regulations such as wearing smocks might have been set by the central Government rather than each individual school, but few details are currently available. Magazine images into the 1980s show children wearing these jacket-like smocks. Given the fact that the boys tended to unbutton them after school, they do not seem to have been very popular.

Pants

Hungarian boys through the first half of the 20th century appear to have worn kneepants and short pants to school. A film set in that period shows most of the boys wearing shorts. Yonger boys wore suspender shorts, but I do not lnow how commonly they were worn to school. Older boys may have worn knickers as was common in many European countries in the inter-War period. By the 1960s long pants had become more common, but some boys still wore shorts. In the class pictured in the 1969 film almost all the boys wear long pants, mostly black pants. They do not appear to be jeans. Only a few boys wear shorts.

School Sandals

Most boys appear to have worn lace-up shoes, but a few boys in the 1960s also wore closed-toe sandals that looked rather like English school sandals. HBC is unsure if sandals were more common in earlier years.

Socks

Boys at school wearing shortpants in the early 20th century commonly wore dark colored three-quarter length socks or kneesocks. Knee socks became more common in the inter-war period. The declining number of boys wearing shorts by the 1960s commonly wore them with kneesocks, both white and colored kneespcks. There appear to have been no school rule about the socks worn. Some boys also wore ankle socks.

Figure 2.--Note the school book bag the boy in the red short has. Another boy wears his front buttoning school smock opem.

Books Bags

Boys in the 1960s often had portfolio-style bookbags. Nany boys seem to have had similar book bags. I do not think that the styles were required by the schools, but may have reflected the limited availability of comsumer products in Eastern European Communist countries.

Created: November 5, 2002
Last updated: November 5, 2002