Figure 1.--Most British boys had grey kneesocks. A few schools in Scotland, however, had colored kneesocks, like this school with purple kneesocks. |
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We notice some differences as to the color of knee socks between England and Scotland. This was one of the few differences we noticed between these two paets of the Inited Kingdom as converned scool uniform. English boys almost always wore grey kneesocks. There were a few exceptions such as blue, brown and fawn knee socks, but they were not very common. Boys in Scotland wore a much greater variety of colors. We noted quite a variety of colored kneesocks, including bright colors such as red and purple. There may be some schools in England with brightly colored kneesocks, but we did not notice any. At least none come to mind at this time. We have noted blue, purple, and red kneesocks in Scotland in addition to the same grey kneesocks worn in England. I am not sure why Scotland is so destinctive in this respect or just when this difference developed. These colored kneesocks or only worn with short trousers, never with the kilts also worn at Scottish schools. Some Eglish schools had colored socks for sports, but these colored socks were worn as part of the uniform at Scottish schools.
Blue was a color donein a variety of different shdes. We have noted various shades of blue knee socks. A few English schools had dark blue knee socks. A few Scottish schools, however, had bright blue knee socks.
We are not entirely sure what color this was. I think you would call it fucia, a particularly bright shade. It again was kneesocks worn at an Edinburg school. The knee socks were fucia with brown tops. Thy were very destinctive knee socks. It was the only school we ever saw this color of knee socks worn at.
Here we see boys in an Edinburgh prep school wearing purple knee socks (figure1). The boys also wre matching purple caps and blazers. This was not a very common color. We only noticed it in Scoland. Another Scottish school had purple knee socks, although when we visited they were in the process of changing to grey knee socks.
