English School Uniform Materials: Corduroy Jackets


Figure 1.--The every day uniform at this prep school was grey corduroy jackets, worn wih matching grey shirts, blue ties, and grey kneesocks. The jackets were made in the same cord material as the shorts. The jackets were often in blouson style, rather like an Eisenhowser jacket. They are short jackets cut to fall just slightly below the waist.

Some schools also adopted cord jackets. We think these jackets were more common earlier. They were worn by relatively few schools in the 1980s. Quite a number of schools had cord short or long trousers. Only a few schools had the cord jackets as well. The jackets were made in the same cord material as the shorts. The jackets were often in blouson style, rather like an Eisenhowser jacket. We havev noted these jackets referred to as lumber jackets. They are short jackets cut to fall just slightly below the waist. They were quite different to a full length conventionally styled jacket. Usually the boys would wear these during normal school days and wear blazers or suits for formal occasions. The jackets buttoned rather than zipped. Many schools who had cord shorts did not have cord jackets. The schools that had jackets also had them in matching colors. Most of the jackets were grey or bluish grey, much less common was dark blue. The jackets we have seen all seem to have very similar design. There are two large front flap pockets with buttons. The sleeves have wrist cuffs. They were only worn by boys. Most of the schools where they are worn are boys schools. At the few coed schools where they are worn, only the boys wore them. We noticed blue, grey, and maroon jackets. The way the colors change with washing, its difficult sometimes to tell just what color a jacket was. Normally the jacket and pants are the same color.

Chronology

Our chronological information on cord jackets is still quite limited. We do not yet have a time line on these jackets. We think that the began to be worn at prep schools after World War II in the 1940s. We do not know for a fact that they were not worn in the 30s, but we have not yet seen any examples from the 30s. Cord jackets were also worn by boys generall in the 50s and 60s and were not just a school uniform gaement. We think they may have been most common in the 1950s and 60s, but are not yet sure about this. We note them still being woirn at a few schools in the 1990s. Cord shorts seem to have been more common than the jackets. Quite a number of schools had cord shorts worn with blazers rather than the cord jackets. The jackets may have been more common in the 50s and 60s. As far as we can tell these jackets by the 80s were only being worn as a school uniform garment abnd not by boys generally.

Prevalence

Some prep schools also adopted cord jackets. We only note these jackets being worn at prep schools, but we are less sire about earlier periods. We think these jackets were more common erarlier. They wee worn by reklativelyvfew schools in the 1980s. Quite a number of schools had cord short or long trousers. Only a few schools had the cord jackets as well. Many schools who had cord shorts did not have cord jackets, but all the schools with cord jackets had cord shorts.

Matching Set

The jackets were made in the same cord material as the shorts. The schools that had jackets also had them in matching colors. The boy here is a good example, more or less (figure 1). Notice that even here the jackets and pants do not exactly match. The jackets were not always worn as matching sets. As garments were bought at different time as subjected to various washings, the boys did not always wear matching sets. Often they were not even close.

Styling

The jackets we have seen all seem to have very similar design. There are two large front flap pockets with buttons. The sleeves have wrist cuffs. The jackets were often in blouson style, rather like an Eisenhowser jacket. We havev noted these jackets referred to as lumber jackets. They are short jackets cut to fall just slightly below the waist. They were quite different to a full length conventionally styled jacket. The jackets buttoned rather than zipped.

Conventions

Usually the boys would wear these during normal school days and wear blazers or suits for formal occasions. This meant that it was easier to keep the blazers and suits looking smart, because it was the every day cord outfits that got the rough wear.

Colors

We noticed blue, grey, and maroon jackets. The way the colors change with washing, its difficult sometimes to tell just what color a jacket was. Most of the jackets were grey or bluish grey, dark blue seems less common. W also note a maroon, but this seems to be a color that develoed because of washing. There may have been other colors. We noticed other colors of cord short trousers. We are, however, not sure about the prevalence of the various colors. There may be other colors. Some schools seemed to have tolerated different colors. This may be that after washing that the jackets looked different anyway. Normally the jacket and pants are the same color. This is the case when they were first purchased, but there are often variations with garments purchaded at different gtimes.

Gender

These cord jackets were boys garments. They were only worn by boys. Most of the schools where they are worn are boys schools. At the few coed schools where they are worn, only the boys wore them.

Reader Comments

A British reader writes, "I had few of these corduroy jackets and shorts when I was growing up in the 1950s. They were not just school uniform garments, but worn as ordinary clothing as well. We often refered to as jerkin suits. As in the phjotograph here, the jerkin (jacket) had two flapped and fluted pockets, the waist band often had elastic as mine did. Whereas my corduroy shorts were fully lined, the jerkin was not. As for colours, these were bottle (green), brown, very dark brown, black, grey, navy, yellow and fawn. They were quite popular and quite cheap. They were very comfortable to wear and the pockets of the jerkin were ideal to keep small things like marbles in. The material was velvet corduroy and when new it had a wonderful sheen to it, which was eventually lost thanks in part to wear and washing. It also had a very distinctive smell I seem to recall. Sizes for these suits went from 1 to 12, I believe the 12 indicated that the shorts had a waist of 32". This meant that it was possible for boys older tha 13 to wear them although I don't ever recall seeing a boy of that age dressed in the suit, I wore one until I was 11. I loved wearing it and I missed it when it was finally given away when I graduated to long trousers."









HBU-SU





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Created: 6:38 AM 7/22/2004
Last updated: 12:37 AM 7/25/2006