** Italian school smocks chronology grembiule della scuola








Italian School Smocks: Chronology


Figure 1.--These Italian children all wear back-buttoning smocks. HBC is not sure about the date. It looks like the 1910s. The boys appear to have light colored smocks and the girls white smocks.

HBC is just begining to collect information on the chronology of Italian school smocks. We are unsure just when Italian boys began wearing school smocks. The school smock was adopted in France during the early 1870s. They may have been adopted about the same time in Italy, but HBC has not details at this time. School smocks appear to have been commonly worn in the early 20th century, but HBC has few detais. There does not appear to have been one style that was worn at any one time, but dark smocks with large white collars appear to have been especially prevalent. Floppy bows appear to have been very common. Such smocks were commonly worn through the 1960s, but became less common for older boys in the 1970s. The style of smocks began to change in the 90s with front buttoning smocks bcomning increasingly common. We bekieve that greater varitie of colors also appeared in the 1970s. Smocks are still worn in Italy, unlike many ther countries like France where they are now rarely seen. They are not as prevalent as formerly, but still common. We have just begun to build some chronological information.

19th Century

HBC is just begining to collect information on the chronology of Italian school smocks. We are unsure just when Italian boys began wearing school smocks. We assume it was in the 19th century, but we do not have information to confirm this. Italy only became a unified country in the 1860s. We do noit know if smocks were worn in countries like Savoy that were to make up Italy before the country was unified. The school smock was adopted in France during the early 1870s. They may have been adopted about the same time in Italy, but HBC has not details at this time.

20th Century

School smocks appear to have been commonly worn in the early 20th century, but HBC has few detais. Smocks were so common in Italy that we believe there were government regulations requiring smocks, but we can not yet confirm this. There does not appear to have been one style that was worn at any one time, but dark smocks with large white collars appear to have been especially prevalent. Floppy bows appear to have been very common. Such smocks were commonly worn through the 1960s, but became less common for older boys in the 1970s. The style of smocks began to change in the 90s with front buttoning smocks bcomning increasingly common. We bekieve that greater varitie of colors also appeared in the 1970s. Smocks are still worn in Italy, unlike many ther countries like France where they are now rarely seen. They are not as prevalent as formerly, but still common.

21st Century

Italian children no longer wear school smocks as commonly as before, but they are still worn at a number of schools. At some schools smocks are optional, but they are usually common at those schools. At other schools they are required. This appears to be especially common at Catholic schools. We notice an American tourist visiting Herculaneum near Naples in 2001 complained of large numbers of schoolgroups with "shrieking children, all in color-coordinated caps, scarves or smocks, touring at the same time". So clearly smocks still are common, although HBC in 1989 did not notice school groups in Rome wearing smocks, perhaps because most of my sightseeing was on the weekends. We note companies offering quite a range of smocks in a variety of styles, colors, and sizes.







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Created: October 20, 2001
Last updated: 6:59 PM 4/5/2009