Figure 1.--Quite a number of schools had plain grey uniforms like the prep school here. Tghey have grey sweaters, grey shorts, and grey kneesocks. Even the tie was plain, although blue. Other schools added color trim to the sweaters and kneesocks. Notice the boys are wearing white rather than grey shirts. |
We note that these grey sweaters with colored trim were quite common in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s. We are not sure about earlier periods. We think that these sweaters with trim became especially popular because with the more informal uniform approach at many schools, blazers were less commonly worn. Most schools had blazers, but they were not commonly worn during the school day. Thus these sweaters with trim and logo added a little color and style to otherwise plain grey uniforms. There were quite a few schools with these plain grey uniforms, but many schools liked the idea of adding a little color. Another trend we noted appearing in the 1990s was that some schools began to adopt swearshirts, in some cases replacing sweaters with sweatshirts. Sweatshirts were garments that were also worn at state primary schools.
