Figure 1.--Grey school shorts were very commonly worn in England. They were not the only school shorts worn in Britain, especially England, but they were the dominant style. They were a formal style, but not all boys wore them with suit jackets or blazers. Often they were worn with sweaters or during the summer just a shirt. While grey shorts are primarily an English style, we see them also worn in various British Empire countries, especially the Dominions. Here we see a boy at a Scottish prep schools. Unlike many prep schools, the boys did not wear ties and blazers.
School shorts included both short pants made as part of school uniforms and shorts boys wore to school, but not as a part of a uniform. Some of the different types of shorts were worn as parts of uniforms others were only regular clothing worn to school. Some were both. The school short pants initially worn by British school boys in the 20th century were initially little different than the knee pants worn in the 19th century. Essentially knee pants evolved into short pants. Perhaps the most significant style element is the length of the shorts. They tended to be long and baggy. Like knee pants they were commonly worn at knee length. British school shorts, perhaps as an econoomy measure, generally had no back pockets. Shorts on the Continent were also worn long. It was not until after the World War II (1939-45) that shorter, trimer shorts began to be worn. Grey shool shorts were a formal style of short pants. This style did not become popular in England until the 1960s, about the same time that older boys began to want to wear long pants. Suspension devices changed over time. We also notice school shorts styled like slacks, usually in khaki or navy blue drill. We also notice nore sporty styles in America, but these were not a uniform style. The shorter style continued to be widely worn in England until the mid-1990s when a longer style that originated on the Continent became popular. This style shift received added impetus when American boys began wearing long baggy hip-hop clothing. There are many other sylistic elements besides length, these include vents, creases, pocket placement, belt loops, side tab adjusters, cuffs, and other devices. Perhaps the most destinctive style of short pants is the lederhosen that some Austrian and German boys wore to school. We see a few boys wearing bib-front shorts to school, mostly in France. We also see rompers being worn.
Knee Pants
Knee pants appeared after the mid-19th century and were worn by boys throught Europe and America. They were particularly popular in America and most boys wore them to school, although not part of a uniform. Kneepants were still widely worn in America at the turn-of-the century, but declined in popularity during the 1910s. Basically knee pants evolved into short pants. And the early short pants were long nd looked like knee pants without the buttons at the knee hem. They might be considered as the same garment, but as there is a fairly sharp dividiubg line about 1910, we consider the two separarely.
Grey School Shorts
The school short pants initially worn by British school boys in the 20th century were initially little different than the knee pants worn in the 19th century. Essentially knee pants evolved into short pants. And grey gradually became the standard color. Perhaps the most significant style element is the length of the shorts. They tended to be long and baggy. Like knee pants they were commonly worn at knee length. British school shorts, perhaps as an econoomy measure, generally had no back pockets. Shorts on the Continent were also worn long. It was not until after the World War II (1939-45) that shorter, trimer shorts began to be worn. This style did not become popular in England until the 1960s, about the same time that older boys began to want to wear long pants. Grey shool shorts were a formal style of short pants. Suspension devices changed over time. We also notice school shorts styled like slacks, usually in khaki or navy blue drill. The shorter style continued to be widely worn in England until the mid-1990s when a longer style that originated on the Continent became popular. This style shift received added impetus when American boys began wearing long baggy hip-hop clothing. There are many other sylistic elements besides length, these include vents, creases, pocket placement, belt loops, side tab adjusters, cuffs, and other devices. When the longer-style shorys appeared in England, we notice a few were cuffed.
Corduroy shorts fall in the category of both a type of shorts and a type of materoal. A few schools adopted corduroy in the 1930s, but flannel remained the most common material. Corduroy shorts continued to be worn after World War II, but they were not nearly as popular as the new Terylene shorts. Cord shorts were chosen for their long wearing characteristics. They were also often worn at schools that were somewhat less formal, even so they like flannel and Terrelyn shorts were commonly worn with ties. Some schools use cord shrts as the every day uniform and had other long or short trousers for formal occasions. Grey was the most common color, but grey and brown were also worn. Someother colors such as green may have also been worn. Cord shorts were most common in English schools, but were also worn in France and Scotland. HBC has not noted them in former British colonies like Australia, New Zdaland, and South Africa.
Slack Style Shorts
Slack style school shorts were basically done with the same styles a English grey school shortd, but they were not made to be worn formally as part of a suit or with a blazer. Occassionaly they were, but this was not very common. These became very common as American public schools began adopting uniforms. We also see them being worn at parochial schools. A few British schools afopted iniforms woth khaki or navy blue shorts instead of the much more common grey shorts. We even notice obe school with dark brown shorts.
Athletic Sporty Shorts
We notice a variety of sporty athletic tyled shorts becoming popular in the late-1960s. These were not a uniform style. This seem to have reflected the increasing populrity of both soccer and basketball in the United States. These shorts became very populsr casual wear in America. And boys began wearing shorts more commonly than before. And as a result, thry began to appear in schools. Mostly this was in elenentary (primary) schools, but we begin o see them in high schools as well, especilly plsvces like Californis where some schools adopted more casual dress codes. We see girls wearing them as well. We eventually begin to see some children in Europe wearing them as well.
Perhaps the most destinctive of the various styles of short pants worn by schoolboys is the leather lederhosen that some Austrian and German boys wore to school. HBC knows of few schools that adopted lederhosen as school uniform. But few German and Austrian schools had uniforms. They were widely worn to school as ordinary dress by boys in Austria and Germany. Beginning in the 1920s we note boys beginning to commonly wear them to school in Germany. we presume the same was true in Austria. They may have been even more common in Austria. In German they were more common in Bavaria than other areas. In Austria they were more common in rural areas than Vienna and other large cities.HBC is not sure why they suddenly became more acceptable for schoolwear in the 1920s. We note boys in Austria and Germany commonly wearing them to school in the 1960s, but they began to decline in popularity during the 1970s. We do not believe that they are now common schoolwear, but we have few recent reports. Hopefully our German readers will update us here.
We see younger boys wearing bif-front shorts. This was mostly in nursery school or Kindergarten, but we also see some younger primmaty boys wearing them. This seems especially the case in France. Here we note many boys wearing bib-front shorts. Often this was the choice of mothers and the children wore a mix of outfits, but in some schools we see the children dressed alike, almost like a uniform. Thus the school must have made at least some suggestions to the mothers as gtob how the children should be dressed. Often they were not the same style or color, but most of the boys wear some type of bib-front shorts. This does not seem to have been all that common, but we do note many examples in France as well as a few schools in other countries.
Rompers
We also see rompers being worn, again mostly in Framce. While younger primsry boys moght wear bib-font shorts, the rompers were almost entirely a style wiore in pre-school--matrenalle. And they were only irn by boys. The girls did mot wear them. .
