Figure 1.-- After World War II (1939-45), Catholic schools in French speaking Belgium adopted a new style of cap, similary to military caps worn by some during the War. The cap was called "une toque".

Belgian boys like French boys wore berets. They went out of fashion, however, after World WarII. Sailor hats of varying styles were common in the years before World War I (1914-18). Sailor suits were still worn after the War, but sailor hats and caps were not nearly as common. After World War II (1939-45), boys in France and Belgium began looking on the beret as old fashioned and no longer commonly wore them. Catholic schools in French-speaking Belgium (Walonia) adopted a new style of cap, similary to military caps worn by some during the War. The cap was called "une toque". It was also worn at some French schools where it is called both a "toque" and "calot". The toque in Belgium was commonly worn from 1950-70. It was also adopted by a few choir groups as part of their uniform. It was similar to the caps worn by various uniformed youth groups. University students also wore caps.

Styles

Belgian boys like French boys wore berets. They went out of fashion, however, after World WarII. Sailor hats of varying styles were common in the years before World War I (1914-18). Sailor suits were still worn after the War, but sailor hats and caps were not nearly as common. After World War II (1939-45), boys in France and Belgium began looking on the beret as old fashioned and no longer commonly wore them. Catholic schools in French-speaking Belgium (Walonia) adopted a new style of cap, similary to military caps worn by some during the War. The cap was called "une toque". It was also worn at some French schools where it is called both a "toque" and "calot". The toque in Belgium was commonly worn from 1950-70. It was also adopted by a few choir groups as part of their uniform. It was similar to the caps worn by various uniformed youth groups.

University Caps

One report mentions the Leuven/Louvain university at the end of the 1960s. It was the only Roman Catholic university in Belgium and offered courses in both Dutch and French. The French-speaking Walloon students wore a cap they called a toque. It was rather different from the one on the picture above (figure 1), being made of black astrakhan topped with wine-coloured cotton fabric. The Dutch-speaking Flemish wore a kind of peaked caps called 'pet', plural 'petten'. Political antagonism between de Wallons and the Flemish on a national level was mirrored by rivalry, animosity and sometimes outright hostility between the two sections of the student population. Part of campus folklore were nocturnal fights between gangs of Flemish and Walloons. Having drunk considerable amounts of beer, they chased each other in the narrow and winding streets of the city centre, trying to seize as many 'toques' or 'petten' as possible. Some of the cheerleaders displayed dozens of caps in their dorms. Some of these dorms were raided from time to time in order to recapture the prized caps. If girl students were watching or cheering on of course this would heighten the fervour of these fights but the real thing was having the police join in, usually at the request of the offended citizens of Louvain. This would immediately turn the student parties into allies trying to corner the police who were hampered by the sheer size of their tanks and water cannon. The tradition of chasing for caps came to an end when the Walloon university was relocated to another town, I believe in 1968 or 1969.