Figure 1.-- |
|
Many boys wear either suits or sweaters in the 1930s. We mostly see boys wearing short pants, although they tend to be long-cut shorts looking rather like knee pants. We do not see many boys wearing knickers. The few that do wear the ski-type rather like Hitler Youth winter uniforms that came almost down to the ankles. Long pants were mostly worn by older boys in secondaryy school, but we see a few younger boys wearing them in winter. Many girls have ling braided pigtils. The girls wear dresses. Most of our imafes come from the German speaking areas of Switzerland. We are unsure anout styles in the French area, but presume that were similar to French fashion. Long stockings seem very common. although knee socks were also worn. Both boys and girls wore long stockings, bit they seem especially common with the girls.
This photograph shows a group of sixteen-year-olds standing outside their secondary school in Zurich.
The school is called "Sekundar Albisrieden" (Albisrieden secondary school). It is located, I think, in a prosperous part of Zurich. The photo was taken on 28 Janurary 1930. You can see the children's teacher, Herr Reiser, standing on the left. The class seems to be very small, possibly elite--only three girls and six boys. All the children seem to be very sportily and fashionably dressed. The boys wear pullover sweaters with white shirts, some of the shirts open, others with neckties. One boy wears a belt around his sweater which seems to have no function other than fashion since it is not holding up his long trousers. Four of the boys wear short trousers with either knee socks or long black stockings. Notice the boys sitting on the railing of the fence, one of whom wears long stockings and two of whom wear knee socks. We can't see what sort of trousers the boy sitting at the extreme left is wearing, but they are probably shorts, the style of the majority. The school seems to be Christian, perhaps Lutheran, since a cross is part of the decorative motif in the iron fence. The two boys at the right--one with long trousers and the belted wool sweater, the other with a sporty V-necked pullover, shirt and tie, with short
trousers and long black stockings, seem to be dressed in the height of 1930s Swiss teenage fashion.
Another class portrait was taken February 6, 1930 (figure 1). It seems a very mild dayfor February. All the boys wearing long stockings with their short trousers. Th is probably a function of the season, although it does not look particularly cold. During warmer months some of the children would have worn knee socks. Again we see a combination of suits and sweaters. Note that the short trousers are really knee pants and come down just to the knee in most cases. German boys at the time were beginning to wear shorter cut shorts, at least we see a greater variety of lengths with both long shorts like the boys here wear as well as shorts cut avove the knee. One boy wears dark brown long stockings with his suit (and an open collar) in the first row. The girls here also do not seem to be wearibg pinafors, although some do seem to be weaking smocks. This is a little difficult to determine as smocks look rather like dresses. These children are also apparently secondary school children, about 12 years old. Their teacher is Herr Reinhard Ochsner.
This class is from a secondary school called Milchbuck School in Zurich. The children are 13 or 14 years old. The photo was taken on January 19, 1932. Their teacher, Herr Zuppinger, is standing at the right. Notice his very correct wing collar with four-in-hand tie and three-piece suit. A few of the boys wear suits and ties, but just as common are pullover sweaters with open-collared shirts. There is a mixture of trouser styles for the boys. At least one boy wears long trousers. Two others wear plus fours. Two boys wear short-trousers suits, one with knee socks, and the other (the most formally dressed boy in the class), sitting in the
front row, wears a spiffy short trousers suit with collar and tie and black long stockings. Notice the ornamental buttons on his trousers, which was common for boys wearing short trousers suits. His parents were probably more conservative than the parents of the other children and wanted him to look especially dressed up for the class photo. He also wears the more old-fashioned hightop black shoes. The girls wear sweaters and skirts, and, in one case, a plaid dress.
This is a class at the Sekundar Oerlikon near Zurich. Most of the boys seem to be wearing short trousers, either with sweaters or as part of short trouser suits. This photo was taken in Zurich on February 26, 1932. The rather heavy-set teacher, Herr Wydler, is standing in the center, or is he the other adult male further to the left? Only one teacher's name is given, although two appear in the photograph. Two of the boys, who seem to be about 15 or 16, have on black knee socks with a thin stripe around the top. Notice also the wearing of sporty woolen ankle socks on top of both the knee socks and the long stockings in some cases. The boys with black long stockings wear suits but with open-necked collars rather than neckties. It seems to have been very common for Swiss parents to keep teenage boys in short trousers at least up to the age of 15 or 16 during the 1920s and 1930s although we occasionally see teenage boys in long trousers also. Probably this was a decision of Swiss parents and would indicate whether they were more conservative or more liberal in their attitudes toward boys' clothing.
These students belong to the Ilnau Secondary School, a village near Zurich. There was only one secondary school in the town, so it merely takes its name from the village. The very proper-looking teacher, Herr Ernst, stands in the rear wearing a wing collar and tie with a watch chain on his waistcoat. The photo was taken November 27, 1934. Most of the boys seem to be wearing heavy woolen sweaters with short trousers and long stockings, black or brown. One boy in the second row wears heather-style of speckled wool stockings that go well with the figured knit of his sweater. At least three of the boys have graduated to long trousers, but they seem to be in the minority. Many of the girls wear pigtails.
This class portrait was taken at the Hemelshausen School in Hinwil, Switzerland, a village close to Zurich. This is a third-grade class, which means that the children would be about eight years old, although the boy sitting on the ground on the extreme left looks more like nine or ten to me. The young teacher standing at the back and wearing horn-rimmed glasses is Herr Widmer. The date of the photo is 25 November 1938 just before
World War II started. The boys are wearing mostly sweaters with their short trousers. All the children are wearing long stockings since it is a chilly fall day (no leaves on the trees outside the school). Two
of the boys in the front row and two others in the second row are wearing short trousers suits with matching jackets and short pants. The older-looking heavy-set boy sitting at the extreme left is a bit
more dressed up than the others with a shirt, sweater and necktie under his jacket. All the children wear long woolen stockings with Strapsleibchen. Some of the stockings are black, but the newer fashion for brown stockings is already observable. Notice the pigtail hairstyle of many of the girls, with white ribbon bows at the ends.
One of the girls wears a halter style skirt over her pullover. One boy in the second row on the right wears a plaid pullover with a collar. Some of the sweaters have fronts that button from the middle chest to
the neck.
This school was known as the Zurlindenstrasse School, one of the public schools in the city of Zurich.
We have a portrait of the Kindegarten class. The photo was taken on the 19th of January, 1939. TThe children are about 5 years old. Notice their toys. The teacher, standing at the back on the left, was Frau Wyss. Notice that the girls all wear pinafores. The boys wear short pants and long stockings, often with sweaters. One boy sitting on the floor in front wears a sailor suit with long trousers. There is another boy in a short pants sailor suit at the extreme left. You can see that the children wear supporters with their long stockings, apparently with what the Germans often referred to as "stocking shirts" (bodices with garter attachments). For kindergardeners these children look very serious. They have proudly displayed their toys in front of them. We don't see too many smiles. The children, of course, are unaware that World War II started in the year of the photograph.
A HBC reader tells he remembers reading a woman's blog about her school days. She described a Swiss private high school for girls that she attended in the 1930s. There was a rigid dress code (even
including underwear). The writer, I think, was German. Swiss schools are often quite international. My understanding was that generally German schools did not have uniforms or strict dress codes. I am not sure how accurate this report was or how common strict dress codes were in Switzerland and Germany. My understanding is that it was not very common, but my information on Switzerland is very limited.
Related Chronolgy Pages in the Boys' Historical Web Site
[Main Chronology Page]
[The 1880s]
[The 1930s]
[The 1940s]
[The 1950s]
[The 1960s]
[The 1970s]
[The 1980s]
Related Style Pages in the Boys' Historical Web Site
[Main school uniform page]
[Main country page]
[Long pants suits]
[Short pants suits]
[Socks]
[Eton suits]
[Jacket and trousers]
[Blazer
[School sandals]
[School smocks]
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing School Uniform Pages
[Return to the Main individual Swiss school chronology page]
[Return to the Main individual Swiss school page]
[Return to the Main Swiss School Uniform Page]
[Return to the Main School Uniform Page]
[Australia]
[England]
[France]
[Germany]
[Italy]
[Japan]
[New Zealand]
[Scotland]
[United States]
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Page
[Introduction]
[Activities]
[Biographies]
[Chronology]
[Clothing styles]
[Countries]
[Bibliographies]
[Contributions]
[FAQs]
[Glossary]
[Images]
[Links]
[Registration]
[Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]
