Figure 1.--These French boys in the early-1920s look to be a class at a rural school. Note their teacher and apparently the teacher's dog who has ab honored place in the portrait. You know he got all kinds of attention from the boys. Many of the boys wear similar-looking back-buttoning smocks. Noyice the smocking. Some boys wear their collasrs outside and others underneath the smocks. As best we can tell, the smocks did not have collars. We also notice boys wearing suits, sailor suits, and one boy wearing a rather incongurous polka-dot outfit. The fact that several boys dressed up suggests to us that the smock was not required at the school, but we are not entirely sure about that. The portrait is undated, but we would guess it was taken some time about 1905-15.

French elementary boys through the 1950s wore smocks to school, almost always black smocks.  I'm not sure who issued the requirement, the local schools or national educational authorities. The smock does, however, appear to be very commonly worn by French school children during this period. I know less about what a French boy would do after school. Would he take his school smock off? Change into another smock for play or go without a smock after school? While smocks were commonly worn by French schoolboys in the early 20th Century, but not by all schoolboys. I'm not sure if the French Government changed the regulations, however, clearly some boy were not wearing smocks to school. One interesting account from 1900 describes a French boy who began the lycee wearing a sailor suit and to his embarassment--with the long curls that his mother dearly loved. France also had an important Catholic school system. I'm not sure about the uniform or dress requirements at these schools. I do not know if the Catholic boys were more or less likely to wear smocks. The smock was generally worn with short pants and often a beret. The image of a boy going off to school in a beret, smock, and book satchel on his back is a nostalgic one for many French people. Most boys wearing smocks during this period appear to be wearing kneepants or longish short pants, usually with long, but not kneesocks. Few boys wore knickers or long pants with school smocks.

Decade Trends

The number of early-20th century images we have of French children wearing school smocks is fairly limited. We think this reflects a fairly limited French archive in general and not an indicator of prevalence. And many of the images that we do have are not dated. Thus we do not yet have a detailed chronology of school smocks in France. We do have a few dated images from the 1900s and 1910s. What we see is many, but not all French children wearing smocks to school. Many class portraits show many if not most children wearing smocks as can be seen here (figure 1). Usually in any given class portrait while most children wear similar dark smocks, there are usually a few children wearing suits, sailors suits, or other garments. And at several schools, none or only a few children wear smocks. Thus we are not entirely sure just what the rules and conventions were in French schools in the early-20h century. Whatever the rules were, enforxement was the responsibility of the individual schools and varied cinsiderably. Hopefully as our archive expahnds we will be able to better understand French school snock trends during this period.

Schoolwear

French elementary boys during the early 20th century wore smocks to school, almost always black smocks.  The smock was required by the new Third Republic Goverment in the early 1870s after the abdication of Mperor Napoleon III. By the turn of the century, it had become a well established custom. HBC notes that it was very common for school boys to wear smocks, but during this period has few specific details. I'm not sure to what extent they were required. Because of the uniformity od dress in soime photographs is obvious that some boys were required to wear them. I'm not sure who issued the requirement, the local schools or national or local educational authorities. The smock does, however, appear to be very commonly worn by French school children during this period. While smocks were commonly worn by Frebch schoolboys in the early 20th Century, but not by all schoolboys. I'm not sure if the French Government changed the regulations, however, clearly some boy were not wearing smocks to school. One interesting account from 1900 describes a French boy who began the lycee wearing a sailor suit and to his embarassment--with the long curls that his mother dearly loved.

Play Wear

I know less about what a French boy would do after school. Would he take his school smock off? Change into another smock for play or go without a smock after school? Perhaps many boys did, but we also see boys playing in their smocks after school. A good example is an unidentified 10-year old boy in 1918. He seems to hacve kept his smock on after school or was he just on his way home. Many other questions occur. Were the play smocks different from school smocks in design, color, or pattern? Or were they just old school smocls? Or did this vary from family to family by income level?

Types

HBC does not have a lot of information on smock styles during this perriod. We do not yet have sufficent images or information to assess styles. Available images suggest that many school smocks were back buttoning smocks, but we have seen some front buttoning smocks as well. The front and back buttoning smocks, however were styled similarly. We have not noted any of the lab-type frontg buttoning smocks. The back buttoning generally runs from the neck to the waist. Many boys often did not have their smocks fully buttoned at the back, probably because it was a little difficult to do. HBC has not noted any front buttoning smocks during the 1900s and 1910s. Boys seem to mostly wear back buttoning smocks. We have also not noted any pinafore or apron-style smocks during this period.

Styles

A varierty of styling details can be observed in French school smocks. The most apparent os the length of the smock. Other stylistic details include the collar, buttons, belt or sash arrangement, sleeve arangement, blucing, and smocking. Most smocks did not have collars. Sleeves arrangements varied. Some had simple sleeves while others have a cuff with some bloucing at the cuff.

Colors

The principal color appears to be black or dark blue and always solid colors. There were also some light-colored smocks such as the boys in figure 2, probably orphans, are wearing. In most schools secenes, however, the boys appear to be mostly wearing the dark-colored smocks. In some school photographs a few boys, usually the younger ones, may be seen in light colors. The dark-colored smocks, however, generally overwealm the lighter colored smocks. We are not sure just what colors the light-colored smocks are. Light grey appears to be likely, but we have few details at this time. While boys generally wore the dark smocks, we notice considerable diversity in the smocks worn by girls, who wear both a variety of colors and patterns.

Belts

HBC believes that boys in the early 20th century usually wore their smocks with an outside belt. This appears to have been quite common in available photographs. Only the boys wore belts over their smocks. Not all boys did this, but it was quite common. We have not noted the girls doing this. I'm not sure about the origins of this style or when it first appeared. Only some basic information is available at this time.

Clothing

HBC believes that boys wearing smocks usually wore them with kneesocks and three-quarter length socks. The new short pants became increasinly common in the 1910s. Some boys may have worn smocks with knickers--but HBC believes this was not common. HBC has not noted boys wearing long pants with smocks during this period.

School Types

France also had an important Catholic school system. I'm not sure about the uniform or dress requirements at these schools. I do not know if the Catholic boys were more or less likely to wear smocks. The smock was generally worn with short pants and often a beret.

Symbol of French Boyhood

The image of a boy going off to school in a beret, smock, and book satchel on his back is a nostalgic one for many French people. Most boys wearing smocks during this period appear to be wearing kneepants or longish short pants, usually with long, but not kneesocks. Few boys wore knickers or long pants with school smocks.

Advertising

The French school boys in smocks was such a common sight that it was eventually picked up on by advertisers. HBC has noted advertising depicting school boys in smocks by the early 20th century. They may well have occurred earlier, but HBC has no evidence of that yet. Often the products chosen were products that appealed to children, like candy and cookies. The advertisement show here is from a well known cookie company. The shape is very famous. They also have another cookie style, 'Le petit escolar', the little school boy. It is a chocolate butter cookie in the shape of a school boy wearing a beret and smock. The image is from the early-20th century. We are not entirely sure when the cookie box was made, surely after World war I, probably after World War II. Perhaps our French readers can help us date it.

Individual Schools

We note a variable situation at French schools. Boys at some schools worn smocks almost like a uniform. We see schools where all the boys wear similar if not identical smocks. At others we see a variable situation with mny boys wearing smocks. At other schools virtually none of the boys wear smocks. We are not sure at this time how to explain this disparity. We have begun to collect information from invidual schools. we see some staged photographs suggesting that smocks were very common. And photographs from some schools show there there indeed schools where smovks weee common worn of not required. At other schools smocks were seldom worn. Dee for ecample the Ecole Saone-et-Loire (1907). There are some schools where the boys wear uniforms rather than smocks.

Created: July 15, 2000
Last updated: 11:19 PM 10/25/2017