Figure 1.--This Belgian film appears to show school fashions in the 1940s after the end of World War II. It appears to be a catholic boarding school. All the children wear short panrs and smocks.
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Figure 1.--This Belgian film appears to show school fashions in the 1940s after the end of World War II. It appears to be a catholic boarding school. All the children wear short panrs and smocks. |
Belgian films look remarably similar to French ones. I do not know of particularly classic Belgian films, but HBC correspondents have provided some sample images. Belgians boys are often shown wearing short pants and until the 1950s schoolboys are commonly seen in smocks. Berets are also worn, presumably in the French speaking areas. Modern movies show boys wearing the same pan-European styles.
Het Verdriet van Belgie ("The Sorrow of Belgium") is set during World War II (1939-45) at a Catholic boarding school. It is a school for younger boys and nuns are very much present and they wear the traditional habit. The boys look to be about 8 to 12 years of age. I'm not sure what kind of school is depicted. While English boys commonly went to boarding school beginning about age 8 years, I do not think it was nearly as common for younger boys to attend boarding school in Belgium and other continental countries. Perhaps this is an orphanage for displaced children, but the boys look too well dressed for that. I do not have any details on the plot line at this time. The film is set in Flanders, the Dutch speaking part of Belgium. The boys wear short pants and smocks. Both front and back opening
smock styles can be seen, although the front buttoning ones appear most prevalent. This would date the film after World War II which suggests an error in the costuming. The back buttoning smocks would have been more common durin the War. The smocks are all the same blue color even though they are styled differently.
I know nothing about this film except that it was made in Belgium during the 1990s and set in the 1950s. The clothing in the film look reasonably In that regards, "B" grade productions may be more relaible than big-budget productions.
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