Figure 1.--One 1935 Au bon Marché add showed three smocks. Two were school smocks styles in classical Frebnch school smock styling. Both look to be suitable for boys and girls. The third was a "gardner" or pinafore smock that younger children might wear at home. |
One 1935 Au bon Marché add showed three smocks. Two were school smocks styles in classical Frebnch school smock styling. Both look to be suitable for boys and girls. The third was a "gardner" or pinafore smock that younger children might wear at home. We notice German boys also wearing these pinmafore smocks especially in the early 20th century.
Most historians claim the Magasin au Bon Marché in Paris was the world's first
true department store (1852). Au bon Marché is still a large Paris department store. HBC has acquired some Au Bon Marché advertisments for boys clothing from the early 20th century. It is considered by some to be the oldest and the classiest department store in Paris. Gustave Eiffel had a hand in its design. Womenswear (first floor) carries avant-garde as well as classic designers and a sophisticated lingerie department. Elsewhere you'll find a glossy menswear department, kitchen and household items, bedlinens, curtain fabrics, furniture, stationery, a large bookshop, children's toys and clothes. Shop 2 contains an excellent food hall, bar and restaurant, as well as an antiques arcade.
One 1935 Au bon Marché add showed three smocks. Two were school smocks styles in classical Frebnch school smock styling. Both look to be suitable for boys and girls. The third was a "gardner" or pinafore smock that younger children might wear at home. We notice German boys also wearing these pinmafore smocks especially in the early 20th century.
This gingham school smock could be worn by both boys and girls. The ad copy reads, "Tablier vichy écru, grand teint, col bleu ou rouge, orné tresses, 0m45, Fr 11. Plus Fr 1.50 par 0m05 jusqu'a 0m75." This would translate as "Gingham smock, flat (non-shiny) finish, color-fast, blue or red collar, ornate [?tresses] 45 cm, Fr 11. An addition Fr 1.50 for every 5 cm, up to 75 cm." School smocks in 1935 were just beginning to show destinctive styling for boys and girls. The child show wearing this smock here is a boy (figure 1). We note that girls also worte this style. Other stores showed girls wearing this same style, such as La Samaritaine in 1936. A French reader tells us that it was in fact more common for boys than girls. This precise style continued to be worn into the 1950s. The collar here is pointed, but rounded collars were alos common. The sizes would be about 2 or 3 to ? years.
This gingham school smock could also be worn by both boys and girls. Note that except for the collar treatment and the material pattern that this smock is styled almost identically with the above smock. The ad copy reads, "Tablier vichy fantaisie bleu ou rouge. Om40 Fr 4.75. Plus Fr 1 par 0m05 jusqu'a 0m75." This would translate as "Gingham smock, fantasy blue or red. 40 cm, Fr 4.75. An addition Fr 1.50 for every 5 cm, up to 75 cm." I am not precisely sure why this smock was so much cheaper than the one above. Both are gingam smocks. The simple collar treatment is certainly one factor. The sizes would be about 2 to ? years.
The third was a "gardner" or pinafore smock that younger children might wear at home. We notice German boys also wearing these pinmafore smocks especially in the early 20th century. The ad copy reads, "Jardinier vichy écru, grand reint biais eécossais 0m40. Fr 3.25. Plus Fr 1 par 0m05 jusqu'a 0m55." This would translate as, "Gardener (pinafore smock) flat finish color-fast ginham [?biais] Scotch plaid. 40 cm, Fr 4.75. An addition Fr 1.50 for every 5 cm, up to 55 cm." We notice German boys also wearing these pina fore smocks especially in the early 20th century. Atually we have fewer images of French boys wearing this garment, but they may be simply a reflection of ouir limited number of French images. The sizes would be about 2 to 5 or 6 years.
French catalogs in the 1930s still show styles that could be worn by boys and girls, altough gender specific styles do begin to appear. The smock style seen here became the standard style worn by boys. The boys styles had pleats as shown here, but the major difference was at tghe back. Girls smocks had bows loke dresses that tied in the back. Boys smocks had a kind of waist band extension that buttoned in thge back. The smock seen here had a pointed collar, but rounded collars for boys were also common as were smocks without any collar.
no-collar
French catalogs vary in how they do sizing. Some provide sizes in terms of the child's age. This was especially common for younger children. Others stores present sizes in centimeters (cm). Note that this can be confusing. Not only did stores have varying practicesm, but these practices changed over time. Another complication is that modern children are slightly taller than children in the early 20th century. Of coirse there is also te complication that there are substantial cariations among children in any given age group. While there are a number of variations here, French readers have provided us size/age equivalents to provide some rough indications as to the sizes of individial garments. The age equivalents used here are explained on the linked page.
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