Figure 1.--This classic school smock was advertised for the Louvre deapartment store about 1936. The illustration shows a girl wearing it, but it was a clasic style suitable for both boys and girls.
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Figure 1.--This classic school smock was advertised for the Louvre deapartment store about 1936. The illustration shows a girl wearing it, but it was a clasic style suitable for both boys and girls. |
The Louvre department store about 1936 offered a classic light-colored, back-buttoning school smock. It could be worn by a
boy or girl. It was made in sizes 0.40-0.65 metetrs.
Au Louvre is a large department store in the centre of Paris. It was particularly well regarded for its luxury good. Many Americans shop here when visiting Paris. It dates from the Second Empire (1850-70) as was already a major Paris store in the 1880s.
Le Louvre offered a classically style school smock for boys and girls in 1936. The ad copy reads, "74.6063. Tablier d'enfant, forme classique, en vichy uni écru, taille 40. Valeur Fr 10 >> Fr 6.75. En plus par 0m05 jusqu'a 0m65 >> Fr1. This would translate as, "Chidren's smock, traditional styling, in unbleached plain ginham, size 40. Value Fr 10 >> Fr 6.75. Larger sizes in increments of 0m05 until 0m65 >> cost Fr 1 extra."
The sizes indicated mean that this smock was for children about 2-9 years of age. A French reader estimates: 40 cm = 2 years, 45 cm = 3 years, 50 cm = 4-5 years, 55 cm = 5-6 years, 60 cm = 6-7 years, and 65 cm = 8-9 years. At this time the actual height of the boys would be about: 2 years = 80 cm, 4 years = 97 cm, 6 years = 108 cm, 8 years = 119 cm, and 10 years = 131 cm. for instance a boy 8 years old size 120 cm = about 65 cm the size for a smock (tablier). The size wquivalents for rompers were similar. For instance a boy 6 years old size 108 cm would wear a romper (barboteuse) size : 55 cm.
To day an 8 years old boy would be about 120 to 128 cm in height.
This style of smock was becoming classic for boys. The smocks for girls, however, were more varied. Girls also wore this classic style, but tghere wer also smocks done more like pinafores or made to look like dresses. This illustration from photo from 1936 shows that the style of smock for a boy was well estanlished in the mid 1930s and would not signifantly change until the early 1960s.
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