Uniforms Garments: Short Trousers--Chronology
Figure 1.--This school in 1981 still required all the boys to wear a short trouser uniform, although the 12-13 year olds were in the senior school.
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Most British prep school boys boys since World War I wore short trousers. Before the War we see a variety of outfits with boys different kinds of trousers. After the War, short trousers at prep school became almost universal and were part of the required uniform. Thy were almost always worn with knee socks or turn-over-top socks as the British might call them. The popularity of school trousers began to change in the 1960s. Fewer British boys were wearing shorts, especially during the Winter. We see many more boys wearing long trousers by the 1970s. The uniforms at prep schools tended to lag overall fashion trends so you still see many prep school boys wearing shorts in the 1970s, although many schools began changing the uniform rules. By the 1980s some schools had made the type of trousers optional or chnged the uniform to long trousers. This vried greatly from school to school. Some schools allowed prefects or older boys to wear long trousers. The precise rule and age varied from school to school. A few schools still insisted on shorts for all the boys. Some schools had shorts as an everyday uniform, but allowed some or all of the boys to wear long trousers for the dress up uniform..
