School Uniform: Garment Gender Trends


Figure 1.--Here we see girls in the London North Hackney Scondary School learnung about caligraphy called 'new writing' in an art class. After World War II, Britain greatly expanded its state secondary system. Almost all of the schools required uniforms. Blazers and gym slips were standards. There uniform is a classic gym slip, Americans would call them jumpers. They wore their gym slips with blouses and ties as well as blazers. Notice the school badge. You can see one girl is wearing her blazder. The image is not dated, but it looks like the early-1950s.

Some school uniform garments are worn by both boys and girls, including both uniform items and regular garments. Such common garments include boaters, sweaters, ties, and blazers. Other garments are gender specific. These gender conventions have varied over time. There are destinctive headwear styles for boys and girls. The boys wore pants and the girls dresses, often gym frocks, or skirts. This is the convention in all schools that we know of with uniforms. The colors vary. Blue and gray are the most common. The girls dresses are both solid colors and patterns--almost always plaid. Many schools have the girls wear white socks, both ankle and knee length. Few schools use white socks for boys uniforms, although we note one school in Australia (Brisbane) where the boys wear white kneesocks. Some have shoe requirements such as strap shoes or sandals, but this varies. At non-uniform schools in recent years girls have begun wearing pants, both jeans and shorts. Some schools with unforms allow the girls to wear shorts and long pants, but this is not very common.

Gender Garment Sections

We have garment sections in both our boys and girls school uniform sections. This includes both school uniform items and regular school wear. We have both a boys and girls school uniform/schoowear garment page for those readers primarily interested in specifically boys or girls schoolwear trends. Curiously in the early-19th century, it was virtually unheard of for girls to wear boys' clothes. Girls did not wear boy items. Joan of Arc of course was burned at the stake for doing just that and the idea was seen as abhorent as late as the 18th century. This convention was still firmly in place durung the early-19th century. This only began to change in England when girls' public schools were founded and adopted some boy items in the mid-19th century. It was at this tije that Amelia Bloomer introduced, of course bloomers. And while at first seen as shocking, her bloomders were gradually adopted as girls gym suits. The trend changed decidedly in the 20th century, especially after World War II when girls began wearing many boy items and styles, most prominantly pants and jeans.

Specific Garment Sections

Readers can also look up specific garments and assess both boy and girl trends for that specific garments. This includes both gender specific and gender neutral garments. Some school garments are worn by both boys and girls, including both uniform items and regular garments. Such common garments include boaters, sweaters, ties, and blazers. Other garments are gender specific. These gender conventions have varied over time. Thus items with gender connotatiions in the 20th century often did not have the same connotatuiions or even were gebnder beutral in the 19th century. There are destinctive headwear styles for boys and girls. The boys wore pants and the girls dresses, often gym frocks, or skirts. This is the convention in all schools that we know of with uniforms. The colors vary. Blue and gray are the most common. The girls dresses are both solid colors and patterns--almost always plaid. Many schools have the girls wear white socks, both ankle and knee length. Few schools use white socks for boys uniforms, although we note one school in Australia (Brisbane) where the boys wear white kneesocks. Some have shoe requirements such as strap shoes or sandals, but this varies. At non-uniform schools in recent years girls have begun wearing pants, both jeans and shorts. Some schools with unforms allow the girls to wear shorts and long pants, but this is not very common. Pants have, however, become very common for girls in America and many other countries.









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Created: 2:05 AM 8/16/2011
Last updated: 2:14 AM 8/20/2011