Figure 1.--Only a few boys in this Lille primary school class wore smocks. Notice the widely varied length as well as the use of belts by some boys. The photograph is undated, butlooks like about the turn-of-the 20th century.

We have noted French school smocks in a wide variety of lengths.We have noticed styles from the ankles up to some only a little below the waistline. Some seem like long dresses. Others appear to be quite short, almost like a shirt others are quite long extending below the knees. And the length of French school smocks has changed over time. There are many other lengths between these two extremes in images from French schools. I am not sure if these style lengths are stylistic, or simply mothers not yet buying a growing boy a new smock. Often images show boys wearing generally similar length smocks, so stylist factors may be involved. Originally the school smocks were quite long, often lengths below the knee. The smocks in the late 19th century were worn quite long. The length od the smocks seemned to have reflected the length of pants and skirts because the purpose was to protect the clothes. Boys in the late 19th century commonly weore kneepants. As the pants extended to the knee and sonewtimes below the knee, the smock had to be a relatively long garment. Smocks after World War I (1914-18) were generally wore with short pants. The length of shorts changed over time as did the length of the smocks. Worn with shorts, the smocks by the 1930s were were generally shorter than had been worn earlier with kneepants. A French reader writes, "Some explanations about the French school smock during the 1940s-60s. To be smart, the boys' smock might be cut to lengths well above the knee. The smock should cover thge short pants. The lenghth of a smock was often designed to be about half of the heighth of a boy. In reality, mothers often purchased a slightly lasrger size to allow for growth. Often sewed up th hem which could then be let out when the boy grew a little taller. A reader wrutes, "It almost seems that some smocks were from older siblings or used older and they seemed to reach above the knees while others were newer and they reached almost to the ankles so they could be used as the child grows. Just a guess here." Hand-me-downs could certainly be a factor, but we don't think they explains the extremes here.