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I've been reading your website with great interest for some time. It's a brilliant resource, very interesting and so detailed. Whilst I recognise that it is focussed on boys' clothing, I thought I'd spend a few minutes setting out my own experiences of girls' school uniforms and PE kits.
I attended two primary schools, as my father was in the Royal Air Force (RAF) and as such we moved regularly.
My first school was from ages 5-7. Here we had a pretty standard uniform: sky blue blouse, school tie, grey pinafore dress and grey knee socks were worn in winter with black bar shoes and grey cardigans. In summer we had blue and white checked dresses, white knee socks and brown sandals. In PE lessons we had navy shorts and white aertexes worn with black elasticated plimsolls. Some girls kept their knee socks on in PE lessons, but I think I always took mine off. As I was only here until the age of 7, my memories are limited. I think early on we all loved the novelty of wearing uniform, and changing for PE seemed very grown up.
My second primary school had a similar uniform. Our blouses were white, but grey pinafores were still worn, along with grey knee socks. I remember that tights were expressely forbidden. Black bar shoes were the only style allowed. We had grey cardigans here too. Summer meant white knee socks, and green and white striped dresses and brown sandals. Our PE kit here was simpler, in that we didn't have one. For all our indoor lessons we were exected to strip off down to our knickers, even removing our vests. Lessons were all done with our feet bare. In summer when we went outside we had white slip-on plimsolls and could retain our vests. In winter when we played netball we wore our vests, plimsolls and could wear green gym knickers if our parents provided them, otherwise it was underpants.
When I joined this school, many of my classmates were had been there for two years already. The uniform itself was not so different to what I was used to wearing, but PE stood out for me and another new girl, Rosie. We were both used to changing into other clothes for gym, and I know that when I started there I asked my mother where my PE bag was. She replied that I didn't need one at my new school, and my seven year old self didn't question this any further. I think we were told before morning break that we'd have PE afterwards, and Rosie and I approached our teacher having conferred with one another. We told her that we didn't have our PE kits, only to be told cheerily that we didn't need to worry as we all did PE in just our pants! When it came to undressing for the lesson I remember feeling really nervous as I looked around me. I'd done gym in my vest and pants a couple of times at my old school, when I'd not got my kit, but here the girls around me were all undressing, removing their vests as well. I gingerly followed their lead, and I remember looking across at Rosie and seeing tears in her eyes. One the lesson started she seemed to feel better, and of course it wasn't long before it seemed the most normal thing in the world. I do remember a couple of girls starting at the school in my last year or last but one year; they cried in their first PE lesson as it was obviously such a shock to them, more so than for Rosie and I as they would have been 10 or 11 years old at the time.
On moving to senior school, and starting to board in 1993, I of course had a whole new uniform. Michaelmas and Lent terms meant, from the top: bottle green beret, white blouse, house tie, bottle green sweater, green and maroon striped blazer, green knee length pleated skirt, green knee socks and brown bar shoes. The VIth Form were allowed wooly green tights instead of knee socks. In summer we had plain light green cotton dresses that buttoned up the front and had white trim. They were worn with blazers, boaters and white knee socks and brown sandals; the VIth Form were still expected to wear white knee socks. Indoor PE lessons saw us all in white vests and house colour gym knickers; bare feet were mandatory and underwear forbidden. For hockey and lacrosse we had white aertexes, green gym skirts with gym knickers, white socks and boots; athletics and cross country meant white vests, house gym knickers and sometimes plimsolls (worn without socks) - in summer we often did athletics barefoot, and in particularly wet and muddy times in winter we were compelled to run cross country with nothing on our feet. If we didn't have any item of kit we were made to do without it; if we forgot our boots for hockey or lacrosse we would run laps of the playing fields without shoes or socks on.
I felt at the time that my seior school uniform was strict (every item hasd to be present) but it wasn't that bad; I was used to wearing smart uniform, and compared to some schools none of our uniform was too unpleasant! Berets were not popular amongst the girls though; we all felt that they were hot, impossible to shape properly and in the rain they became waterlogged, cold and incredibly heavy! As we got older many girls started to dislike their knee socks, seeing them as quite childish, and I'm sure that tights would have been very popular, even if they were the woolly versions worn by the VIth Form. The older girls most resented the fact that they had to wear white knee socks in summer; these were seen as incredibly childish, as were the sandals that we all wore. The games and gym kits were not universally liked. For me, wearing gym knickers and being allowed a vest were improvements on my primary school kit, but those girls who had worn shorts, tee shirts, shoes and socks were shocked at being forced to perfom in such minimal clothing. Underwear checks caused a degree of resentment, but were accepted. Our clothign for field games was accepted, perhaps even liked. In the middle of winter, something warmer than a short-sleeved aertex would have been useful, but if you kept moving you were generally alright. It was cross country that caused the most unhappiness amongst my classmates though. My house colour was white, which meant I always ran in white gym knickers and a white vest. The mud of our cross country courses had to be seen to be believed, with girls sinking almost up to their knees at times. Our kit got filthy every time, and despite the best efforts of the laundry never got clean. Plimsolls were anachronistic by the late 1980s, much less by the mid to late 1990s, and were not that well suited to cross country. They offered little or no grip and let in water like sponges; we were not allowed socks and our feet were constantly frozen and soaking wet. Some girls tried to persuade our teachers to permit socks and trainers, but without success. I mentioned that at particularly wet and muddy times we were complelled by our gym mistress to run with nothing on our feet. Although the thought of ploughing through the mud with naked feet was terrifying, once we'd all done it we actually didn't mind that much. It was no colder than wearing plimsolls and actually offered better grip!
Looking back as a young adult today, my experiences were quite unusual for a girl growing up in the 1980s and 1990s. Especially at senior school our uniform was archaic, but looking back now I like it. It was smart and made us all take care and pride in our appearance. Ploughing through rinstorms and knee deep mud clad only in what amounted to underwear was challenging at the time, but lookign back now I can smile!
Clinton, Laura. E-mail message (July 27, 2010).
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