Schoolwear in Zimbabwe


Figure 1.--Zimbanwe is one of the former British colonies in South Africa. It was formerly known as Southern Rhodesia. Like many of these countries, school uniform and dress trends show this British heritage. Elementary school children in Zimbabwe commonly wear uniforms. I'm not sure when this photograph was taken.

Zimbanwe is one of the former British colonies in southern Africa. It was formerly known as Southern Rhodesia. Like many of these countries, school uniform and dress trends show yhis British heritage. Elementary school children in Zimbabwe commonly wear uniforms. At one representative school in the 1990s the girls wore blue dresses with large Peter Pan collars and the boys wore khaki open collar shirts and short pants. We believe that this is also the case in secondary schools. We still have very limited information on the country. Zimbabwe's spiral into disorder and poverty in recent years has undoubtedly affected the ability of parents to afford school uniforms. As in South Africa khaki was a populsr color for school wear. The boys here, for example, look to be wearing khaki shirts and shorts, but it is difficult to be certain (figure 1). An observer noting the children involved in an agriculture project here writes, "When is the rest of the world going to wake up to the disaster that is Zimbabwe? Rhodesia used to be the breadbasket of Africa but Mugabe, who practices a kind of reverse apartheid, is allowed to get away with the starving of his own people and the murder of anyone who stands in his way. He is a monster that the South African government would do well to ostracise."





Carefull, clicking on these will exit you from the Boys' Historical Clothing web site, but several are highly recommended

  • Apertures Press International Project: Pictures at schools in different countries and a book on British schools
  • Apertures Press New Zealand book: New book on New Zealand schools available
  • School Uniform Web Site: Informative review of British school uniforms with some excellent photographs
  • British Preparatory Schools: A photographic book depicting life at British preparatory schools during the 1980s. Most of the schools are English or Scottish, but schools in Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, and Ulster are also included. The pictures show the uniforms worn at many different schools.
  • Information: Information about school uniforms in America




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    Related Style Pages in the Boys' Historical Web Site
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    Created: 11:55 AM 7/5/2004
    Last updated: 11:55 AM 7/5/2004