Figure 1.--I'm not sure when this photograph was taken. It looks rather klike a play more than a school scene. We are also not sure about the brown dresses. Most images from the Soviet era that I have seen show girls wearing dark blue dresses, but apparently there was some variety. A HBC reader writes, "I have found a number of text references that indicate brown dresses were a fairly common alternative to blue or black for Soviet school dresses. One entry says that the writer was visiting Russia and went to a second hand clothing warehouse, which had racks and piles of Soviet Army uniforms. They also saw a rack of ex-schoolgirl uniforms, where they specifically say it was a rack of BROWN dresses. My guess is that some schools chose brown rather dark blue so their scgool stood out."

We have some limited information at this time on girl's school uniforms over time in Russia. We have no information at this time on girls school uniforms in Tsarist Russia. Russia was a very conservative country. We suspect that the number of girls in secondary schools was rather limited. Boys and girls in Soviet Russia used to wear distinctive uniforms. There were differences over time. We are unsure how boys and girls dressed in the early Soviet period. The girls in the 1960s commonly always wore dresses, often blue dresses. The younger girls wore pinafores. Soviet school girls never wore pants. Both boys and girls wore military-styled uniform. The style varied from school to school and over time. The boys and girls uniforms looked quite similar, at least the tops. The most obvious difference was that the girls wore Peter Pan collars and the boys pointed collars. We have very limited information on uniforms and schoolwear in modern Russia. Uniforms appear to have declined or disappeared in modern Russian schools and now jeans are common for both boys and girls. We have, however, few details at this time. A HBC reader, however, tells us that the fancy dress with white hairbows and pinafores has not entirely disappeared in post-Soviet Russia. Rather they are still worn in some areas, but only on special days.

Tsarist Russia

We have no information at this time on girls school uniforms in Tsarist Russia. Russia was a very conservative country. We suspect that the number of girls in secondary schools was rather limited.

Soviet Era

Boys and girls in Soviet Russia used to wear distinctive uniforms. There were differences over time. We are unsure how boys and girls dressed in the early Soviet period. The girls in the 1960s commonly always wore dresses, often blue dresses. The younger girls wore pinafores. Soviet school girls never wore pants. Both boys and girls wore military-styled uniform. The style varied from school to school and over time. The boys and girls uniforms looked quite similar, at least the tops. The most obvious difference was that the girls wore Peter Pan collars and the boys pointed collars.

Modern Russia

We have very limited information on uniforms and schoolwear in modern Russia. Uniforms appear to have declined or disappeared in modern Russian schools and now jeans are common for both boys and girls. We have, however, few details at this time. A HBC reader, however, tells us that the fancy dress with white hairbows and pinafores has not entirely disappeared in post-Soviet Russia. Rather they are still worn in some areas, but only on special days. A HBC reader writes, "I have some images from Russian Federation,as regards the use of school uniforms in girls. Indeed you're right mentioning in the website that these days school uniforms are worn only during special occasions such as : 1 september the opening of school year throughout Russia (September 1) and the end of the school year (end of May). The girls also probably but I am not sure, wear fancy clothes during certain public/state holidays. There are areas of Russia where the fancy clothes are not just restricted to special day, It appears that the Soviet-style school uniforms are still worn on a DAILY BASIS in Transdniestr (autonomuos region within Republic of Moldova). Recent photos show that even the older schoolgirls (up to 9-10 th grade) wear the black dress with detachable white collar, white frilly pinafore, have their hair mostly in two ponytails or braids tied with big white hair bows or/and white ribbons, and some schoolgirls (more of the younger ones) also wear white tights or white knee-socks for the above-mentioned schooldays."

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Created: 11:34 PM 3/6/2006
Last updated: 11:34 PM 3/6/2006