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Les 3 Suisses in their 1971 catalog had a page offering blazers, shirts, and pants. As they are all on the same page the inference is that the shorts and pants shown are to be worn with the blazer. The blazers were available in single and double breasted styles and a variety of colors. Brown and green blazers are depicted. The boys are all shown wearing neckties, including plaids, stripes, and solid colors. Shirts are offered in both long sleeves and short sleeves in white and pastel colors with stright collars. The pants are available in different length shorts and long pants with flares. The boys wear different length socks and regular leather and suede shoes.
This is not a French catalog or store that HBC is familiar with yet. Hopefully our French readers will provide some information on the company.
The trademarked fabrics are mentioned here, Tergal®, Eural Tergal®, and Woolmark®. Tergal® is a finely woven polyester fabric. I'm not sure what Eural Tergal® is. The Woolmark® symbol is used to "identify quality products made from pure new wool". They also have a Woolmark Blend symbol to "identify quality products made from wool rich blends containing at least 50% new wool", and a Wool Blend symbol "used to identify products containing at least 30% (but less than 50%) new wool". Since the catalog page uses the Woolmark symbol, the blazer must be 100% pure new wool.
Shirts are offered in both long sleeves and short sleeves in white and pastel colors with stright collars. No button-downs.
I am not sure, but I think item F was Oxford cloth dress shirts in both short and long sleeves. They were available in white and pastel colors.
The ad copy read, "Chemise classique. Manches en polyester mélangé.
Col et poignets double usage." That translates as, " Classic shirt. Sleeves in ??? ". It was available in blanc (white) and ciel (light blue) as shown here (figure 1). The sizes were 26 cm, 28 cm , 30 cm, 34 cm, and 36 cm. I'm not sure what ages that meant.
The boys are all shown wearing neckties, including plaids and and solid colors. The ad copy for item G reads, "Cravate écossaise. En fibranne. Dom. rouge ... F5.00 Dom. bleue ... F5.00." " The two basic colors are worn by the boys in shorts here (figure 1). This transaltes as "Scottish ties in ??? dominately red or domanatemly blue." The price was F 5.00.
The blazers were available in single and double breasted styles and a variety of colors. Brown and green blazers are depicted.
The ad copy read, "Blazer droit. En drap de laine renforcée de polyamide Nylon. Forme droite. 3 poches plaquées. Ecusson sur poche poitrine. 1 poche poitrine, 1 poche portefeuille." That translates as, " ??? " The colors are vert (green) and marine (navy blue). The sizes were 114 cm, 120 cm, 126 cm, 132 cm, 138 cm, 144 cm, 150 cm, 156 cm, and 162 cm. This would be boys from about 6-14 years of age.
The ad copy read, "Blazer croisé. Mëme caratéristiques que le blazer
droit. Réf. 033.2380, mais double boutonnage (mixte)." That translates as, " ??? " The colors are vert (green) and marine (navy blue). The sizes and age range are the same as for the single-breasted blazer above.
The pants are available in different length shorts and long pants with flares. The shorts are shown in two lengths and with different waist designs. One has what looks like a self-belt, but is probably a button tab.
The ad copy reads, "Culotte Tergal (polyester mélangé) poches côtés à l'italienne, 1 (poche?) passepoilée. Braguette ? à glissière." This translates as something like, "Tergal short pants (polyester mélangé), pockets Italian cut, 1 pocket with braid. Fly with a zipper." I'm not sure what is meant by Itlalian pockets. The sizes expressed in a boy's height were: ??? cm, 126 cm, 132 cm, 138 cm, and 150 cm. That would mean boys about ??-12 years old. I do not know what the smallest size was, probably 114 cm. That would be a boy about 6 years old. The prices varied from F ???-30.00.
The ad copy reads, "Culotte forme anglaise. En Tergal (55% polyester et 45% laine). Elle est entièrement doublée. Ceinture à passants. Braguette fermeture à glissière. Poche cavalier." This would translate as, "English style shorts. In Tergal (55% polyester et 45% laine). These are fully lined.
Zip fly. Cavalier pockets." The colors were marine (navy blue), gris clair (light grey), and beige. The English-style means that the shorts were longer than the French were used to at the time. I'm not sure what Cavalier pockers were. The sizes were: ??? cm, 126 cm, 132 cm, 138 cm, and 150 cm. The age range would this be the same as for item H above. The prices varied from F ???-39.50.
The ad copy for the flare trousers read, "Le pantalon. En serge « Eural» (55% polyester et 45% Laine). 2 poches cavalier. Ceinture à passants, braguette à fermeture à glissière. Le bas est évasé. Doublé jusqu¹aux genoux." This translates as, " ??? . The colors were marron (maroon, although the examples at the top of the page do not look like maroon), gris (grey), and bleu R.A.F (Royal Air Force blue). The sizes were The sizes expressed in a boy's height were: 114 cm, 120 cm, 126 cm, 132 cm, 138 cm, 150 cm, 156 cm, 162 cm, 168 cm and 174 cm. That would mean boys about 6-16 years old.
The boys wear different length socks. One boy wears ankle socks while the other boy wears higher, but not quite knee-length socks.
The boys wear regular leather and suede shoes. Both loafers and what look like a kind of buckle shoes are worn by the boys in shorts. The boy in long pants seems to be wearing lace-up suede shoes. At the top of the page a colorful suede loafer is shown.
HBC is archiving French-language clothing terms in our French glossary. There are a lot of French terms used here that are not easily recognizable and and are combination terms. Thus we are listing some of them here for ease of reference.
Braguette: Fly
Culotte forme anglaise: English style shorts, meaning shorts longer than were common in France at the time.
Entièrement doublée: Fully lined. Lined shorts and trousers are always an indication of quality clothing.
Fermeture à glissière: Zip fly.
Passepoilée: Braid.
Poches cavalier: Cavalry/cavalier pockets. I'm not sure what is meant here, cavalry or cavalier. They look like the pockets found on jeans, more horizontal than the angled poches à l'italienne.
Poches côtés à l'italienne: Italian side pockets. I'm not sure what the characteristics of the cut here that made the pockets Italian. They seem to be side pockets with a sharply angled opening.
A HBC reader comments, "So the French were imitating the English when they started lengthening their shorts! Ironically, this was at the same time that English boys were moving to shorter "continental cut" shorts. I've
noticed a similar yearning for English classiness in Italian children's wear magazine Vogue Bambini. Boyswear manufacturers from Italy, Spain, and even France produce clothing that evokes English boys' clothes of the mid-20th century, targeting upscale families. When you want to be snobby, emulate the Brits."
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