Figure 1.--Children at prep schools wore a wide variety of footwear. Here schools varied widely. Some schools set a unifirm type of footwear. Other schools might set guidelines, but permitted a wide degree of variation as to the footwear the children wore. Most school banned trainers (sneakers) except for sports or in this case morning break. |
Children at prep schools wore a wide variety of footwear. Here schools varied widely. Some schools set a uniform type of footwear. Other schools might set guidelines, but permitted a wide degree of variation as to the footwear the children wore. There were also variations during the school day. Boys often put on tennis shores (teainers) for morning break when playing outside or of course for games in the afternoon. Here rules varied from school to school. Generally speaking there was greater variation allowed in footwear than any other uniform item. Some schools requited sandals, but this was usually for ordinary schools days. At most schools the dress uniform required lace up leather shoes for the boys. Often the style of sandal was not rigidly enforced. Girls often wore strap shoes. Many schools banned sneakers (tainers) except for sports or sometimes morning break. Other schools allowed them when the children were allowed to change out of their uniforms in the afternoon. Some boarding schools allowed to be worn for free time, but most did not.
Children at prep schools wore a wide variety of footwear. Here schools varied widely. We note both both black and brown shoes. We also notice lace-up and slip-on shoes as well as various types of sandals. There were also trainers (sneakers) as well as specialized gmes footwear.
Some schools set a uniform type of footwear. Other schools might set guidelines, but permitted a wide degree of variation as to the footwear the children wore. There might be considerable variations during the school day. Boys often put on tennis shores (trainers) for morning break when playing outside or of course for games in the afternoon. Many schools banned sneakers (tainers) except for sports or sometimes morning break. Other schools allowed them when the children were allowed to change out of their uniforms in the afternoon. Some boarding schools allowed to be worn for free time, ore common was for the children to wear their daily classroom fottwear in the afternoon and evening. Some schools allowed traoners in the afyertoon after classes. A factor here was the amount of freetime allowed anf the range of activities persued by the children. Schools varied as to how rigidly the rules were enforced.
Rules about footwear varied from school to school. There were some common trends such as not allowing sneakers. Other footwear options varied among schools. Some schools required sandals, but this was usually for ordinary schools days. At others sandals were optional. Some boys wore them and others did not. Some schools just required sandals and accepted most styles. Others schools selected a certain style of sandals, usually closed-toe sandals. Often the style of sandal was not rigidly enforced. This was particulrly true with the larger boys who apparently had trouble finding the proper style in their size. At most schools the dress uniform required lace up leather shoes for the boys. This was a very common convention at prep schools. Generally speaking there was greater variation allowed in footwear than any other uniform item. There appears to have been some degree of variation with footwear, more so than with other aspects of the school uniform. We are not entirely sure why this was.
age seems to have been a factor affecring footwear at a number of schools. The younger boys for example were more likely to wear sandals than the older boys. This was true at both schools that required sandals as part of the uniform as sell as those that did not. Even at schools whoch required sandals, these schools seem to have commonly not enforced this rule strictly with the older boys. We note that for some older boys, sandalsin the style worn by the younger boys were not available in larger sizes. This we see bots wearing adult sandal styles.
Therec was both overlap as well as diffemves as to the foowear worn by girls and boys. Girls often wore strap shoes. Both boys and girls wore sandals, athough there was some variation in the style. Only the girls wore strap shoes. but most did not.
