Figure 1.--Tghe boys at this Australian school can choose to wear either the traditional grey shirts or the new plaid shirts made in the same plaid that the girls use for their dresses and skirts.

Most Australian school uniforms like British school uniforms upon which they are based are plain colored garments, primarily grey and blue. Other colors have appeared in recent years, but grey and blue are still the dominant colors. The plain solid color garments are often made a bit stylish by detailing in the school colors--most commonly on the jumper (sweater) collars and sleeve cuffs (sometimes the waist as well) and on the tops of the kneesocks. Jumpers also sometimes had a school logo. Australian schools sometimes used a kind of zig zag pattern rather than the school colors for the detailing, but this is now rarely seen. The one pattern that has been used for scholl garmebts is plaid. This was used for girls' dresses and skirts, never for boys' pants. We have noted a few schools, always at coed schools, in recent years using the same plaid worn by girls for boys' shirts.

Created: April 25, 1998
Last updated: March 8, 2004