U.S. School Clothes: Shady Side Academy (Pennsylvania)


Figure 1.--This photograph in 1935 shows the First Form (the entering class) in 1935. Here all the boys but one wear knicker suits, mostly with long tan stockings and low cut shoes, although one boy wears long trousers with a contrasting dark jacket and one boy wears his knickers with patterned knee socks.

Shady Side Academy is a private boys' preparatory school in Fox Chapel, Pennsylvania (an upper-class, fashionable suburb of Pittsburgh). A HBC reader wites, "My younger brother went to this boarding school, which is very similar to Western Reserve Academy in Hudson, Ohio which I attended. In fact the two schools traditionally compete against each other in football. Shady Side (like Western Reserve) was exclusively a boys' school until the 1960s when it became coeducational. The curriculum, standards of dress, and general strictness of decorum at Shady Side were all very much like those at its rival school, Western Reserve."

Location

Shady Side Academy is a private boys' preparatory school in Fox Chapel, Pennsylvania (an upper-class, fashionable suburb of Pittsburgh).

Preparatory School

A HBC reader wites, "My younger brother went to this boarding school, which is very similar to Western Reserve Academy in Hudson, Ohio which I attended. In fact the two schools traditionally compete against each other in football. Shady Side (like Western Reserve) was exclusively a boys' school until the 1960s when it became coeducational. The curriculum, standards of dress, and general strictness of decorum at Shady Side were all very much like those at its rival school, Western Reserve."

Religious Affiliation

Neither school had any official church affiliation although chapel was required at both places.

Social Class

Shady Side tended to draw its boys from the more affluent classes since the tuition and board were expensive. Many of the boys were the sons of wealthy business executives or successful doctors and lawyers. But a few boys from less elite backgrounds attended also as scholarship boys. During the 1920s knickers were almost universal for highschool-age boys.

Schoolwear

By the 1930s knickers had begun to give way to long trousers, but many Shady Side boys still wore knickers until about the age of 17 or 18. There was no rule about which had to be worn. It was a matter of the parents' choice. By about 1935-36 the trend was toward long trousers for boys 16 years old or older.

Chronology

We have a few school photographs showing how the boys dressed at the school over time.

The 1920s

One photograph shows the boys of Moorewood House, one of the dormitories of the school. This group photograph was taken in 1923. The boys are between 14 and 18 years old. Note that all the boys--at least those whose legs we can see--are dressed in knicker suits. Some have elements of Norfolk styling with a belt around the jacket. They wear white shirts and four-in-hand neckties. Most of the boys wear black stockings but one boy wears light tan or grey stockings that seem to have cuffs at the knee. They all wear hightop shoes. The adult housemaster, a faculty member who had responsibility for discipline and general nurture in Moorewood House, stands in the back row at the extreme left wearing a bow tie.

The 1930s

A photograph shows the First Form (the entering class) in 1935. Here all the boys but one wear knicker suits, mostly with long tan stockings and low cut shoes, although one boy wears long trousers with a contrasting dark jacket and one boy wears his knickers with patterned knee socks. Again, all the boys wear shirts and ties, which were required for meals and classes. The boys in the photo would be about 14-15 years old. Another photograph is from the same year (1935) but shows an upper Form (I'm not quite sure whether it's the Second or the Third)--boys of about fifteen or sixteen--and maybe even seventeen in a few cases. Note that this slightly older age group has mostly changed to long trouser suits although one boy still wears a knicker suit. His hosiery seems to consist of patterned knee socks rather than the plain colored long stockings. Many of the boys wear vested suits, nearly all with white shirts and ties although the middle boy in the front row is somewhat more sportily dressed with dark trousers, a contrasting lighter colored jacket, a V-necked sweater, and an open collared shirt which folds over his lapels. Some older boys still wore knickers in 1935 but most had shifted to long trousers by age 16 years.

Sources

Grandizio, Robert. Aalumni Affairs, Shady Side Academy. Robert kindly provided us the interesting photographs.







HBC





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Created: May 15, 2004
Last updated: May 17, 2004