Figure 1.--A French reader has sent us this photographed of his little girl's class. The photo was taken in June 1984. The children were not told in advance so they did not dress up and wear the clothes that they normally wore to school. The children are about 6 years old. It was a public school in a Paris suburb. In the front row they are too boys at the extreme right and left. All of the boys in the class, except one, wore shorts. This represents a good view of clothing styles for youinger boys in the mid-1980s. Click on the image to see the rest of the class.

French boys still wore shorts in the 1970s, but mostly younger elementary school boys during the warmer months. Boys in secondary schools no longer commonly wore shorts to school. A few conservative private schools continued to have short pants uniforms, but shorts were replaced by long pants at these schools by the 1980s. The common style worn by boys at primary schools was short cut shorts. Kneesocks were becoming less common and rarely worn by boys, especially during the summer. The one exception here again was private schools with school uniforms which often required white keesocks. French boys by the 1980s were dressing in the American-influenced pan-European style in jeans, sweatshirts, and other casual styles. Some younger boys still wore shorts, often in bright colors. After the mid-1980s, longer shorts became stylish. Sone dressy shorts had cuffs. By the 1990s shorts were only worn as casual clothes during the summer.

Created: January 16, 2000
Last updated: March 14, 2002