Figure 1.--Children in many European countries no longr wear school smocks. They are apparently still widely worn in Spain. This image is undated but we believe it was taken about 2000.

HBC is not sure when Spanish children began wearing smocks. French boys were wearing them to school as early as the 1870s, HBC is not sure at this time just when Spanish boys began wearing them. Nor do we know what the fashion influence was. Presumably it was the French inluence, but we can not substantiate this. We do know that Spanish school children were commonly wearing smocks by the 1930s, although I am not sure when this paractice first began. They may have been worn substatially before this. Many elementary schools do seem to have required them, but I do not know if there was a national rule or government regulations. Nor do we know if the changing regimes (royal, republican, and Fascist had any impact on the wearing of smocks in Spain. Hopefully, our Spanish readers will provide us some historical informtion about school smocks in Spain.

A Spanish reader tells us, "During my time in school, I wore school uniforms and smocks from the age of 3 to the 18 years. The always was of a style which fastened in the back. In that epoca we wore our smocks both at school abd for school events held away from school. This was the era of the Franco dictatorship and education was different from the current system. Discipline was very strict and an important value promoted at school. The uniforms and smocks without a doubt promoted discipline. In that era, boys and girls were taught separately and education was based on the catolic values." [Soler]

Sources

Soler, Esther. E-mail message, December 7, 2003.

Created: September 18, 2002
Last updated: Dcember 8, 2003