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As far as we can tell, French boys by the 1930s did not commonly wear smocks, except for school smocks. We see boys wearing smocks more commonly earler, but by the 1930s it was mostly school smocks. Many French school boys in the 1930s still wore these smocks. Boys mostly wore dark back-buttoning smocks, although more stylish colors and patterns had begun to appear, as well as more varied styles. The back buttoning smocks were cmmonly called 'tabliers'. The term was also used as a generic term for smocks. There were also front-buttoning smocks 9lab coat style) which were also called 'blouses', but school children mostly wore the back-buttoning styles.
We have found news paper advertisements. Mail order catalogs were more important in America than Europe. A primary factor was the distances involved. We have found advertisements from the major department stores like Galeries Lafayette and Au bon Marché, both major Paris department stores.
Galeries Lafayette offered quite a range of school smocks in 1937. The illustrations show girl models, but many of the different smocks are labeled for girls and boys. At the bottom left, we can see the usual 'tablier noir' worn by boys and girls in black and buttoned at rear. At right, another one, also buttoned at rear and worn by boys and girls, is blue and white. What is interesting in this advertizing is that we can see those smocks as they were worn by bigger girls such as number 24 where it is specified that it is a 'tablier d'écolier' (boys' smock) even if the model is a girl. It seems that a 'blouse' is always buttoned at front and worn by boys also as it is written at number 25.
We see a 1937 Galleries Lafayette offering smock garments for both boys and girls wearing smocks labeled 'blouses', but on a page for 'tabliers' (smocks), but also offering other garments. The page was, however mostly for blouse smocks. We see these blouse smocks for both boys and girls on the catalog page. As best we can tell 'blouse' was the name for front buttoning smocks. We are not sure how common they were. We also notice 'tabliers'. In contrast to the 'blouse' items, the 'tablier' items look rather like dresses and these are shown only for girls. There are also 'barboteuse' (romper) outfits for little boys.
A French fashion expert tells us, "Les premiers tabliers sont devenus à la mode après 1925. Ils concernaient les filles, même adultes et tous les garçonnets juqu'à 10 ans. Après 1938 lla mode était aux tabliers confectionnés dans des tissus Vichy imprimé, des tissus Boussac. Ils comportaient un col rond cousu, une ceinture boutonnée au dos pour les garçons, les tabliers se boutonnaient toujours au dos. Après1936 il était de règle d'habiller les enfants en tenue courte et même très courte." That means something along the lines of, "The first school smocks became fashionable after 1925. They were vworn by girls, even adults, and all boys up to about 10 years old. After 1938 the fashion was for school smocks made from printed Vichy fabrics and Boussac fabrics. They featured a sewn round collar, a buttoned back belt for boys, and always buttoned at the back. After 1936 it was the rule to dress children in short and even very short outfits. We see in the Au bon Marché catalog page the different terms being used for school smocks, but it is a little confusing which is which. As best we can fifure out, the terms tabliers and blouse are both used fior choolm smocks. The difference seems to be that tablier is clearly a school smock. Blouse seems to have more styling like a dress. But tabliers and blouses are worn by both boys and girls. Trench-coat was the term for lab-coat style smocks, but this was not a term as widely used as tablier and blouse and we do not see many boys wearing them in the photographic record. .
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