Costumes of English Literary Characters: Just William--Clothing


Figure 1.--This is one of the hundreds of Thomas Henry drawings for the William books. The clithing William's mother is wearing sets the era to the 1920s. Clothing not uncommonly fit into the plot line such as this scene when William encounters Georgie Murdoch in Georgie and the Outlaws. William is wearing his classic schoolboy outfit. Georgie appears in a pristine white sailor suit. (William is going to see that it doesn't stay immaculate very long.) Also notice the difference in the hair cuts.

The illustartions in the books provide a detailed source of images on English schoolboy dress during the 1920s-50s. As many episodes take place out of school and include other children, the books provide an overall picture of English boyhood clothes. The many TV and movie productions provide other glimpses, but unlike the original drawings are not contemorary work. Many do, however, take great pains to preserve the images so beautifully presented in the William books. While much changed over the years, William's costuming did not. At least not after it was set by the 1930s. (William would not like it to be known, but in his first appearances Thomas Henry portrayed him as a rather orderly character. He was more commonly togged out in a neat Eton suit. His socks were rarely crumpled or falling down no matter how strnous an activity he had been up to. Even more telling, his cap sat sqarely upon his head.) Eventually the William that we know and loved appeared. Through the years William and his chums wear their characteristic school cap with circles. William's of course is always worn scrufilly with the peak worn cockily over one ear. In the 1920s and 30s, you did not see British schoolboys outside without their caps. He always wears a crumpled suit, baggy flannel short trousers, and floppy turn-over top keesocks--always collapsing at the ankles.

Garments

Many boys' garmnents feature prominently in the William stories.

Caps

William is of course best known for his cap, always a cap with a circular pattern. One British contributor advises that ge doesn't think the films aim for any particular accuracy as regards contemporary dress. In the 1930s and 40s (and even into the 50s) boys wore caps both in an out of school. He notes, "Even in the early 1960s I wore my school cap into town on Saturdays when I went shopping with my mother." The seismic change of attitude towards uniforms amongst the young was still a year or two away. In the books as published in the interwar years the artist showed William and pals wearing caps--then a totemic symbol of boyhoood. So the films merely echo this already popular image of William.

Suits

It is interesting to note that even when going out to play, William often wore a suit. A modern English boy might find this hard to understand. [Note that until the 1950s, English state primary schools did not require uniforms, except that some schools did have the boys wear caps.] In the early books, William might wear an Eton collar and dance pumps when he dressed up, but this is discontinued in the World War II and post-War era books as well as the film and TV depictions of the series.

Eton collars

I do not recall William ever wearing an Eton suit, but he did on many occassions don an Eton collar which was usually sescribed as a "stiff" collar, to which he would object to mightly. This was particular common in the early books written in the 1920s. Such occassions when William did wear Eton collars were always special events like having his photograph taken or attending a party. While William never wore his Eton collar to school, some of the drawings do show some of the other chaps, albeit a decided minority, wearing them. If the books had been set a decade earlier many more boys, including perhaps William himself, would have worn Eton collars.

Kneesocks

Of course one of the major characteristics of William's costuming is that one of his kneesocks have fallen down to his ankles. Almost always it is only one sock. The socks are of course grey, but they are the ones with the patterned turn-over top which were so characteristic of the 1920s and 30s. William and his mates, the outlaws, never wear the modern style with the school colors on the cuff. Again the boys never wear kneesocks with matching cuff patterns. This is a major difference with Jennings who went to a private prep school and dids wear the kneesocks with the school color stripes.

Ties

He wears one of those knitted ties worn at some schools and tied in a square knot. The pattern is always a horizontal stripes. The boys in some media productions do not wear the same color ties, it others they do. I'm not sure how the drawings are done. They are all usually pictured in horizontal stripe ties.

School sandals

Interestingly, William is never pictured in school sandals. Some other boys such as Georgie here sometimes where strap shoes, in this case white ones with white kneesocks.

William's Look

This is an interesting observation as in the William stories, William generally took delight in being generally disheveled and muddied with his daily adventures. This is a constant theme in Fisher iluustrations. His pockets were also at times crammed with typical boyish things as catapults, insects, ink stained handkerchiefs, marbles and suchlike. This is highlighted in more than one story when William encounters boys who are prissy and pristinely dressed in 'sissy' clothes. A classic example of this is when William encounters Georgie Murdoch in Georgie and the Outlaws. Georgie comes to Williams neighbourhood and is every mothers darling: 'Georgie Murdoch's whole existence proved conclusively that boy's needn't be boys....In summer he always dressed in white and could make one suit do for three days...the sight of Georgie's trim little figure in his spotless white sailor suit threw him into a state of despair.." During the course of the story, Georgie succumbs to William and the Outlaws rough play and becomes quite muddied in a mud fight, much to Georgies delight but dismays his adoring mother.






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Created: March 8, 2003
Last updated: March 26, 2003