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HBC has developed information on headwear trends in several countries. Wevhave noted both uniform caps as well as caps worn as part of ordinary clothing. One of the most important is England. The school cap became an icon of English school boys. There were, however also other styles worn in England. Boys there since the demise of the traditional peaked cap do not wear headwear as commonly as they once did. We have also noted German school boys wearing a variety of caps. These may be, however, popular cap styles rather than caps required by schools. We note a kind of peaked military cap worn by German boys, among other styles. We have notice the same style worn in the Netherlands. American boys attending private schools often wore English-style peaked caps. More common at state schools for several decades were flat caps. French boys are associated with the beret. Japanese boys have worn several different styles of school uniform caps. For the mot part this was not a required uniform cap, but rather the headwear chosen by the boys or their parents. Soviet boys wore military-styled caps as part of their school uniforms.
South African boys like English boys once commonly wore school caps. I have no information about the prevelance of school caps in South Africa today.
American school boys, with a few exceptions have never worn uniform school headwear as so few schools required uniforms. Rather boys mostly wore their regular headwear to school. This was mostly hats in the 19th century and caps in the 20th century. We notice on special occassions we still see hats in tge early 20th century, such as a reunion at the Centerville School in 1913. Since World War II, headwear has become less common at schoo, exceot during rainy days and cold winter weather. British-style peaked caps were commonly worn by America boys in the late 19th Century. As these peaked caps were worn in England for cricket, it is likely that they were the inspiration for the now ubiquitous baseball cap. Early baseball caps, for example, had very small peaks and looked just like school caps. After the turn of the Century boys continued to wear peaked caps. There were some mostly private schools that required uniforms including uniform headwear. Some exclusive boys' schools used them as part of the uniform. Boys after World War I wore them more rarely. Boys by the 1930s were beginning to dress more casually for school. Some private schools continued to insist on more formal attire--including in some cases peaked hats which had acquired an upper-class lokk to it. They continued to be worn by younger boys through the 1950s, especially when dressing up in a suit--often a short pants suit.
Japanese boys have worn various stles of school caps and hats. The style is for the younger children, boys and girls to wear the same style of caps and hats. One popular style for younger children was a hat with a full, but not very wide brim. Older children have different styles for boys and girls. The older boys in elementary school generally wear baseball caps. Older boys in secondary school wear a kind of old fashioned military-style cap.
One of the most important counties in term of school headwear is England. The school cap became an icon of English school boys. These caps appeared in the lare 19th century and were widely worn throughbthe 1950s. There were, however also other styles worn in England. Boys there since the demise of the traditional peaked cap do not wear headwear as commonly as they once did. Virtually all British schoolboys wore peaked caps through the 1950s. Both state and private schools required them. A great variety of colors, including circles and school creasts decorated these caps which flooded British streets with boys going and coming to school. As the fashion of wearing caps and hats wained, school caps began to disapear in the 1960s. By the 1980s only a handful of private schols still required them.
French boys are associated with the beret. For the mot part this was not a required uniform cap, but rather the headwear chosen by the boys or their parents.
We have also noted German school boys wearing a variety of caps. These may be, however, popular cap styles rather than caps required by schools. We note a kind of peaked military cap worn by German boys, among other styles. German boys have not worn uniforms like boys in England. Some schools, however, required boys to wear caps as early as the 1880s. Bavaria's (Mad) King Ludwig in 1880 founded a second classical school of higher education ("Gymnasium") in and named the the "Royal New Gymnasium". Reports suggest that the 270 boys in the school were proud of their scarlet school cap.
Dutch boys have not generally worn school uniforms. Thus the caps they have worn to school have been simply contemprary styles rather than uniform caps. Sailor suits and caps were commonly worn to school in the early 20th century. Some Dutch boys wore military like caps in the early 20th century. Yonger boys might wear sailor hats. We have also noted boys wearing English-style peaked caps. Here we are not sure if these are school uniform caps are simply a popular style of cap. HBC has few other details on caps boys wore to school. Modern Dutch boys do not wears caps to school as commonly as in the past. We have notice some of the the same styles of caps wirn in Germany as worn in the Netherlands.
HBC has relatively limited information on Scottish school caps. We believe that the tradition peaked school cap like the ones worn in England were standard wear for Scottish school boys. Through the 1940s they were still very common in Scotland. The popularity of caps, however, began to decline in the 1950s. By the 1980s, school caps were not common even at preparatory schools. HBC know of only a handful of Scottish schools in the 1980s wear caps were worn.
We only see Russian boys wearing caps to school. We do not see hats, although our 19th century archive is limited. We do have a number of images from the Tsarist early-20th century era. The cap we see had a leather peak, done like the uniform caps of those worn by officers in the Tsarist Army. They appear to be replicas. It is the only country we know that ised this style of military peked cap. The boy here is a good example (figure 1). The Germans also had a peaked cap, but their's were styled differently. Russian boys wore both peaked military caps and campaign caps. The peaked military caps were very common during Tsarist period. It ws the primarily military style item, but this varied from school to school. It was often worn with tunic-like blouses. We are not sure if they had a dress cap or wore the same cap year round. The campaign vaps appeared after the Revolution. We are not sure yet just when. It was also use by the Young Pioneer youth group. They were less expensive. We still see the peaked caps in the 1950s and 60s. The boy on the previous page is a good exmple. We no nlonger commonly se them by the 1970s. we are less sure about the caps or hats worn by the girls. After the Revolution girls education became more important. But the girls did nt wear military syled uniforms like the boys.
Swedish boys attending secondary schools in the early 20th century wore military-style caps, a practoiceccommon in Scandinavia and Germny. A good example is Arne Sohlstrom in 1928.
Australiam boys like English boys wore the traditional school cap. Today in Australia, the cap is only worn at a few preparatory schools. A few Australian schools still use the boater which has virtually disappeared in England where it originated. In recent
years, some Australian schools and the Scouts, have adopted some uniquely Australian styles.
New Zealand as a British colony adopted the British education and British school clothes. New Zealand state secondary students and all private schoolboys commonly wore caps through the 1950s. Currently only a few prepartaory schools continue to require traditional school caps. Several schools have adopted baseball caps, in part out of concern for the depletion of the ozone layer and increasing indices of skin cancer.
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