Figure 1.--This school had both grey suits and grey blazers. The suits were for special occassions, but occassional boys wire their suits on a regular school day as the boy on the left is doing. Note the crest and purple piping trim on the blazer.. |
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Prep schools had both suits and blazer uniforms. This varied from schoolto school. The suits were almost always grey suits. The blazers were a wide range of splid colors and stripes. The blazers colors included grey. The blazers commonly had a patch pocket where the school creast was placed. Suit jackets were worn without the crest although the crest was often on the cap as well. They were usually worn with grey shorts or grey and black long trousers. There were, however, some exceptions. Some schools had both suits and blazers. The suits would be worn for special occassions and the blazers for everday school. Other schools had one or the other, suits or blazers.
The modern blazer was created at English public schools, initially as an item of sports wear. Eventually it became the standard formal dress wear at prep schools. Reflecting the blaers sporting origins, some schools also had suits for especially formal occassions. Almost all schools had blazers or suit jackets. The destinctive blazers helped identify the students. There were a few schools, without blazers, but not very manyy. A few schools had both blazers and suits. Most schools did not have the children weae their blazers during the school day. The blzers were worn by both the boys and girls. Blazers were done in a wide range of colors, often bright colors. We found blue, black, brown, green, grey, pink, red, and yellow blazers. There were even stripped blazers done in various colors. Black blazers by the 1980s were becoming somewhat more common than earlier, in prt because the stripped blazers were more expensive. The children often wore a variety of buttons and badges on their blazers as well as the school crest.
Some schools had suits, as far as we know always grey suits. I am not entirely sure why other colors like black or blue were not worn. I assume it is just that grey was so associated with schoolwear. All the suits we noted had single breasted blazers. We noted both short and long trousers. At most schools with suits, by the 1980s suits were worn instead of blazers. Earlier at many private schools boys had both suits and blazers. Suits were worn for formal occassions and blazers for normal school days. There were some schools that we visited that had both suits and blazers. Here conventions varied. The suits were normally worn for special occassions. At a few schools, however, suits were worn by the older boys or in sone school by the prefects. Blazers were worn by both boys and girls, but suits were only wirn by the boys. to
