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The French look back on the early 20th century with great affection. The yeats before World War I (1900-14) are called "La belle époque". I have very little information on French boys' clothing during this period. I'd be interested in any details visitors to this page may have. Available
information suggests that smocks were commonly worn by boys. Images on the Renoir family and Zola family at around the turn of the family show the children commonly wore smocks. Renoir often painted his children in smocks. Zola's son Jacques wore smocks even when he was 8 or 9 years old. It is not clear to me when the boys would wear their smocks nor do I know what they thought about smocks. They seemed to have been commonly worn around the home, but they also appear in outings to the park dressed in smocks. And of course boys wore blue smocks to school. Other popular outfits appear to be
sailor suits and above the knee knickers. A well dressed boy appears to have always worn a sailor hat or a variety of stylish caps. A friend tells me that early Life Magazine articles had some interesting images of European children showing period clothes. I think in 1917-1918 they ran a series of articles on French children
who had lost their fathers in the War. The magazine I think was asking for donations to help these families. The series contained lots of pictures of these, sadly mostly young, fatherless children. If anyone has
access to a good University library, these Life Magazine images should be available. There apparently was a variety of boys clothes pictured. Advertisers in the early 20th century began using images of children and their characteristic dress to market products.
I have very little information on French boys' clothing during this period. I'd be interested in any details visitors to this page may have. Available
information suggests that it was a very interesting period in the development of children's fashions. Some 19th century fashions remained popular, but new styles were introduced--the nost important being short pants and kneesocks.
The first two decaded of the 20th century have to be divided into two very different eras. First the era of the full blooming of European culture followed by the disastrous World War I.
The French look back on the early 20th century with great affection. The years before World War I (1900-14) are called "La belle époque". It was a time of cultural development and great economic and technical development. Some of the flavor of the era is recorded in French post cards--which were enormously popular during this era, leaving us with many fasinating images.
The most important event occuring in France and Europe at large during the early 20th century was World War I. The War had an enormous impact on fashion--including boys' fashions. The trend toward casual, less formal fashions was given a tremendous impetus by the War. HBC has, however, not fully assessed the impact of the War. We note a very significan shift in fashion after the War.
Garments appearing in the late 19th century were still commonly worn in the early 20th century. Fancy outfits like Fauntleroy suits still worn. The major development, however, was the appaerance of the new short pants style. Kneepants and knickers were still common, especially with suits, but shorts pants appeared in the 1900s and grew in importance. appeared. The French fashion magazine, Moniteur de la mode published a interesting articles about fancy suits for younger boys during the early 20th century. Moniteur de la mode was the most important French magazine. Smocks were still commonly worn by boys. Images on the Renoir family and
Zola family at around the turn of the family show the children commonly wore smocks. Renoir often painted his children in smocks. Zola's son Jacques wore smocks even when he was 8 or 9 years old. It is not clear to me when the boys would wear their smocks nor do I know what they thought about smocks. They seemed to have been commonly worn around the home, but they also appear in outings to the park dressed in smocks. And of course boys wore blue smocks to school. 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. Other popular outfits appear to be sailor suits and above the knee knickers. A well dressed boy appears to have always worn a sailor hat or a variety of stylish caps.
World War I caused mass slaughter on a basi8s never before exoerienced in Europe. The number of father killed in every country is difficult to fathom. The number of orphans sky rocketed. A friend tells me that early Life Magazine articles had some interesting images of European children showing period clothes. I think in 1917-1918 they ran a series of articles on French children who had lost their fathers in the War. The magazine I think was asking for donations to help these families. The series contained lots of pictures of these, sadly mostly young, fatherless children. If anyone has
access to a good University library, these Life Magazine images should be available. There apparently was a variety of boys clothes pictured.
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Advertisers in the early 20th century began using images of children and their characteristic dress to market products. This may have begun in the late 19th century, but so far the only evidence I have comes from the early 20th century. I believe this trend was most pronounced in America--but this also needs to be confirmed. The image shown here features a boy and probably two sisters looking im a store window--saying "Look, he little Gervais cookies".
Post cards were extremely popular in France during the early 20th century. Some of the postcards show children in a variety of fancy cotumes. People bought these cards both to use a greeting cards and o sdave in family albumns. Usually the point of the cards is obvious. Sometimes we do not understand the idea behinf the costume. We also note some portrairs of children in costumes. Perhaps they are gong to a fancy costume party or just dressing up for fun. Here of course the fancy costumes were worn by children from well to do families.
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