Figure 1.-Here we see boys at an American school around the turn-of-the 20th century. The boys here all wear double-breasted suit coats. Other boys in the school ore single-breasted jackets. |
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Children used to dress rather formally for school, especially school children. We see many childre in both oprimary and secondary schools wearing suits of various style to school. This varied by country and the age of the children. After World war I, children began dressing less formally for school, especually primary school children. Gradually secondary school pupls also began dressing less formally. As a result we see fewer children weaing suits to school. An exception here was private schools. Many private schools continued to require the pupils to dress more formally, in some cases wearing suit. Here a popular alternative was the blazer. Legend has it that blazers first appeared on a British naval vessel, the HMS Blazer in preparation for a visit by Queen Victoria. Some authors insist that they have been unable to find evidence of the HMS Blazer. They maintain that this is fiction and that the blazer originated in the bright jackets worn by a rowing club. The term blazer originaing in comments such as, "I say, Percival. Did you see that chap's jacket? A bit of a blazer, eh what?" What ever their origins, blazers were adopted by British school boys and came to become the primary uniform element of generations of school boys. A great variety of colors and striped blazers were worn by British boys from the 1920s through the 1970s. The cost of the blazers and a trend of simplifying the uniform caused many schools using blazers, primarily preparatory schools, to retire the more expensive striped blazers. Most secondary schools continue to require blazers, but it is usually a basic black one.
Children used to dress rather formally for school, especially school children. Children in the 19th and early 20th centuries commonly wore suits to school. After World War I, children began dressing less formally for school, especually primary school children. Gradually secondary school pupls also began dressing less formally. As a result we see fewer children weaing suits to school.
We see many children in both primary and secondary schools wearing suits of various styles to school. This was very common in the 19th century. At the time, most children had very limited wardrobes. Wearing suits was much more common in the 19th than the 20th centuty. Often when a boy got a new suit, his old suit became his casual or play clothes were the boy's old suit. Purpose made play clothes were not common. This changed markedly after the turn-of-the 20th century. First primary children began wearing more casual clothing, especially after World war I (1914-18). For a while, school dress varied by the age of the children. Secondary students followed this trend a little later. A factor here was, countries throughout Europe signoficantly ex[panded the secondary school system. Before the War, it was not common for working-class children in Europe to attend secondary schools. This rapidly changed after the War.
Suits were very commonly worn to school, although this varied from country to country. Here we are talking about the countries with temperate climates, primarily in the northern lattitudes, Europe and North America. The popularity of different styles varied from country to country. There were many xommon trends, but als nogtable country differences. Here Britain influenced styles in many countrues, especially British Empire countries. This has meant both suit styles and blazers. While many schools did not have unifirms, British styles infkluenced the styling of both uniform and non unifirm suits. There were also a variety of destinctive national styles. We note the Bavarian or Alpine jacket in Germany. The Soviet Union, Japan, and other countries had militart styles. The economic situation of the country was also a factor. Suits were expensive. Not all parents could afford suits for schoolwear. And of course there were social class differences within countries. There were differences in both jackets and pants. European boys commonly wore short pants suits. Knicker suits were very common in America. This changed over time. The jacket styles have changed less than the trousrs.
Children in the city were much more likely to dress formally for school. This was certainly the case in the 19th and early 20th century. We see many children wearing suits to school. Younger children wore a variety of specialized suits. Children in rural schools some times wore suits as well, but many dressed quite casually. We see many American children in the early 20th century, for example, wering overlls. We see fewer boys wearing suits after World War I, even in city schools. After World War II, differences between urban and rurl children generally disappeared, but the style adopted were casual styles.
Schoolwear has varied depending on the type of school attended. Trends varied from ciuntry ti country, bit there wer nany similar trends. These variations have also varied over time. There were different types of schools, but the primary difference was state (public) and private schools. This is simewhat more complicated than this would suggest as there were differentkinds of both state and private schools, including such factors as age, dempgraphics, gender, residential status, and other matters. Children in the 19th and early-20th centuries commonly dressed up to go to school, often wearing suits. This included working-class children in state schools as well as more affluent children in private schools. Boys at private schools as might be expected dressed better in more elaborate outfits than the boys at state schools. Age was also a factor. Younger children were usually allowed to dress more casually. Demofraphics was another factor. Boys in rural areas commonly dressed more casually than city boys. The convention of dressing up for school began to change after World War I, especially at state schools. Children began dressing more casualy for school. At first it was mostly younger children, but the same trend eventually spread to older students as well and became more notabke as time progressed. This was a trend at state schools, but private schools commonly contined to require more formal clothing. Some private schools had dress codes, others adopted actual uniforms. Often this meant wearing a suit or sports jackets. Many British schools adopted blazersas well as suits.
We note boys wearing a wide variety of formal outfits to school. Younger boys wore a range of different suit styles. Here the sailor suit was especially popular, but we see a lot of other styles. Some boys even wore Fauntleroy sits to school. Older boys wore standard sack suits. Here there were a variety of suit syles. Boys wore reflecting the popular styling of the time. We see single- and double-breasted jackets with rageod styling. They were worn with knee pants, short pants, knickers, and long pants. Many private schools adopted suits as part of a uniform. This was epecially true in Britain where grey suits were a popular choice. Another popular choice at British scholls was the blazer. alternative was the blazer. Legend has it that blazers first appeared on a British naval vessel, the HMS Blazer in preparation for a visit by Queen Victoria. Some authors insist that they have been unable to find evidence of the HMS Blazer. They maintain that this is fiction and that the blazer originated in the bright jackets worn by a rowing club. The term blazer originaing in comments such as, "I say, Percival. Did you see that chap's jacket? A bit of a blazer, eh what?" What ever their origins, blazers were adopted by British school boys and came to become the primary uniform element of generations of school boys. A great variety of colors and striped blazers were worn by British boys from the 1920s through the 1970s. The cost of the blazers and a trend of simplifying the uniform caused many schools using blazers, primarily preparatory schools, to retire the more expensive striped blazers. Most secondary schools continue to require blazers, but it is usually a basic black one. Several countries instead of suits as we normally define them had a variety of military styles. We also notec sailor suits, although this was usually not part of a school uniform.
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