Figure 1.--This photograph wastaken about 1953. It shows my brother and I dressed in school smocks. He wore smocks all the time at school, I only wore them when I came home to Paris and went to school with my brother.

I almost never wore smocks. I did not attend primary school which is why I rarely wore smocks. I was taught at home along with two other children. My brother and I did not grow up together and had differant educations. Jacques wore smocks (tabliers) quite often at his school (from 4 to 11 years). Claude stayed in Paris and had had the same life of the other boy from Paris except in this time many family were poor and was not the case for my brother. He went to the school only with shorts pants and smock. I did wear smocks occassionally when I was home with my parents in Paris. Both Jacques and had I matching back-buttoning school smocks. I only wore mine when I was at home in Paris.

Family Preferences

French families varied quite a bit concerning the use of the smock. It was above all a practical garment. The use of smocks for some mothers became a habit. Some mothers liked smocks to protect a boy's clothes, which is why they were created in the first place. Other mothers made the smock a garment in its own right and use it really as aday to day outer garment. My mother was not to fond of them . She preferred to dress us in more fashionable clothing. My uncle who raised me also did not particularly like smocks which he though too casual. He preferred that I wear rompers when younger and suits as I grew older.

Home Wear

My brother often kept his smock on after school. I always changed out of mine. Thinking back, I cannot recall having a strong opinion about smocks. Yet I do recall that I only wore them when I had to for school and immediately took my school smock off after school. I never wore it for play or even around the house after school. Some boys did, but I never did. So perhaps without really being aware of it, I did have definite thoughts about smocks. Interesting that we had such different thoughts on this. While our mother insisted we wear smocks to school, she did not make us wear them after school. This was not the case for some other boys.

Home Schooling

While I was with my uncle, I never wore smocks for my home schooling lessons. During these lessons, two other children joined me. I perfectly remenber they also did not wears smocks. My home schooling was in the late 1940s and early 1950s. I mention this to pint out that my boyhood was not that of the average French child.

Schoolwear

Jacques who lived with our parents in Paris wore his smocks all the time to school. I only wore smocks when I was at home with him and my parents. Most of the boys at the school wore smocks. I estimate that about 60-70 percent of the pupils at the school wore smocks. The school authorities and teachers never said anything about wearing smocks. It was all up to the parents--mostly the mothers. Our mother, for example, insisted that we both wear smocks to school. That said, neither of us really gave much thought to wearing smocks. I can not recall having any real opinion on the subject. We just assumed that smocks were what boys should wear to school, because most boys did. At the time we boys did not really think much of clothes. Unlike modern boys, fashion was not very important to us. My brother, if my memory is good, rarely worn a smock to school after he was 10 years old. Like me, he went to a catholic school where the smock wasn't worn.

Style

The style of school smock that Jacques and I are wearing here are a fairly standard back buttoning school smock. They had slight smocking at the front, which was continued in pleats on the skirt. Note that there is a collar, although it is purely ornamental--there is no collar button. Our smocks like other French school smocks, for both boys and girls, did not have a back tieing bow. This was for dresses and rompers. They had a belt buttoning in back. Our smocks had two small front pockets. I used mine for a little hankerchief or someytimes a small toy of some kind. I believe that our smocks were a style made in our parents clothing factory.

Color

Our smocks were a light blue which was the most popular color for boys' smocks in th 1950s.

The Photograph

The photograph was taken in Paris. It was taken during the holidays. I was 9 years old. The photograph was taken for a mazine advertisement. The cation was "Pour vos garçons pensez à leur donner ...." This would translate as, "For your boys think of giving them ...."