Figure 1.-- Here we see an unidentified French primary school class in 1950. The boys look to be about 9 years old. Many boys are wearing bib front shorts which were common for primary boys at the time. Notice that few boys wear knee socks and that sandals are also popular. A French reader writes, "This is a French school somewhere in Algeria. You can tell from the faces. Notice that in this photo, one can see several Algerian, Italian, Spanian boys among the French boys. French boys have a clear complexion, blue or light-colored eyes, blond or light-colored. The ethnic origins of the French include the Gaulois, the Francs (a German tribe), and the Celts."

French school boys comminly wore smocks since the 1870s, mostly with kneepants. Short pants appeared at school after the turn-of-the 20th century evoling from knee pants. After World War I boys continued to wear smocks, but increasingly with short pants. Short pants After World War I had mostly replaced knickers, except for older boys. The first shorts were long, like knee pnts but wihout the decreative knee hem buttons. Smocks were very common in the late-19th and early-20th century so it is not always possiblke to see the kinds of mostly short pants being worn, often with knee socks. There were all kind of diffeent short pants. Suspender shorts were very common in France. This was the general case on the Continent. Younger boys might wear bib-front shorts. We see quite a number of school portaits with many younger boys wearing bib-front shorts. They replaced bib-front rompers when the boys began primary school. The bib-front shorts seem to be most common in schools where smocks were not worn. We note boys wearing shorter-cut shorts as the inter-War era progressed. Uniforms were not common in France, but many Catholic schools did introduce them. The most common were blue shorts and white kneesocks. Many schools had blue cord shorts which were also widely used for Scouting in France. We see some Catholic schools after World War II adopting uniforms with blue cord shorts and white knee socks. Boys in the 20th century commonly wore shorts with school smocks. So we can often not tell what kind of pants the boy was Wearing unless he was wearing long pants which was not common until the late-1950s. Boys commonly wore shorts even in the winter. Kneesocks were common in the colder months. French boys commonly wore short pants through the 1950s and even the early 60s. Younger boys commonly wore suspender shorts and also bib-front shorts. After World War II (1939-45), shorts became shorter and began to be worn mostly by younger boys. Short pants were very common in Frenh schools after the War. We begin to see more long pants by the 1960s and also longer-cut shorts began to appear in the late-1970s. By this time, however, we see fewer French boys wearing shorts to school.

Related Style Pages in the Boys' Historical Web Site
[Return to the Main French school pants type page]
[Return to the Main French school pants page]
[Return to the Main French school garment page]
[Return to the School short pants: Country trends]
[Long pants suits] [Short pants suits] [Socks] [Eton suits]
[Jacket and trousers] [Blazer [School sandals]

Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing School Uniform Pages
[Main School Uniform Page]
[Australia] [England] [France] [Germany]
[Italy] [Japan] [New Zealand] [Scotland]
[United States]

Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Page
[Return to the Main French school pants page]
[Return to the Main French French school garment page]
[Introduction] [Activities] [Bibliographies] [Biographies] [Chronology] [Country] [Clothing styles]
[Contributions] [FAQs] [French glossary] [Images] [Links] [Registration]
[Boys' Clothing Home]

Created: 6:56 PM 12/18/2012
Last updated: 3:56 AM 12/19/2012