Figure 1.--The pupils at the Ecole d'Essey-la-Côte in 1904 seem rather well dressed. Here we see two boys, presumably brothers, wear sailor suits. Some of the younger boys are not yet breeched. None of the children look to be wearing smocks, although several younger boys look to be wearing dresses that may be smocks. Notice the boy at the lower left here. One exception here may be the older boy at the upper right here. A reader points out that he seems to be wearing a light-colored smock. |
The clothing here provides an interesting view of a French school at the turn of the 20th century. As it is a nice clear image, we can make out a good bit of the clothing details. A variety of clothing-related topics occur to us. Hopefully our French readers will provide some insights here. Overall the children seem very well dressed. I was a little surprised to see this in a village school. We wonder if this was common at thetime and if trends would have been different in a city school. I am not sure yet how representative it is. We hope to learn more about this as we had more French schools to our archive. There are several interesting aspects tp this image. Note that none of the children wear smocks. Also note that some of the boys are not yet breeched and or wearing dresses. Or would these have been considered fancy smocks? We note several of the children wear sailor styled clothes. The boys appear to wear knee pants, but knee pants cut at about calf level. Some kind of neckwear seems standard for the boys, at least the boys who have been breeched.
Hopefully our French readers will provide some insights here. Overall the children seem very well dressed. I was a little surprised to see this in a village school. We wonder if this was common at thetime and if trends would have been different in a city school. We have seen images from other village schools where the children did not seem so well dressed. I am not sure yet how representative it is. We hope to learn more about this as we had more French schools to our archive.
Note that none of the children wear smocks. Neither the boys or girls appear to be weaing smocks. We are unsure, but there may be one exception, the older boy at the upper right here. A reader points out that he seems to be wearing a light-colored smock (figure 1). He may well be correct. We have seen many French schools where virtually all of the children wear smocks. We are not sure why the children here are not wearing smocks. Perhaps smocks were not widespread at this time, but they were introduced by the new French Republic in the 1870s and we thought they were widely worn. Perhaps they were not very common in rural schools. We know smocks were very common in rural schools by the 1920s, but we are less sure about the 1900s. Perhaps the children dressed especially for the portrait or took their smocks off for the photograph. Here we just are not sure anf hope our French readers will have some insights to add. Notice that wo of the younger children wear belts with their dresses, giving them a smock look. We suspect that both are boys.
Also note that some of the boys are not yet breeched and or wearing dresses. Its a little difficult to tell who is a boy or girl, but some of the younger children in dresses certainly look like boys. They look to be wearing dresses, or would these have been considered fancy smocks?
Sailor suits were very popular in France during the early 20th century. There were both traditional sailor suits and sailor styling used in a variety of ways in other garments. Sailor outfits were populasr schoowear. We note several of the children at this small rural schooll are wearing sailor-styled clothes. Two boys wear smart sailor suits as can be seen on the previous page. Because they are identical suits, the boys presumably are brothers. Two other boys wear sailor style blouse, but without the destinctive traditional detailing. Two boys and a girl wear sailor outfits. Two of them can be seen heere (figure 1). We would guess that if this was a city school there would have been even more children wearing sailor styled outfits. We notice that one of the younger boys in dress/smock outfits has it done with sailor styling and plaid material.
The boys appear to wear knee pants, but knee pants cut at about calf level. We can not see what type of pants most of the boys are waring, but we suspect that they were mostly waering kneepants with long stokings.
Some kind of neckwear seems standard for the boys, at least the boys who have been breeched. We wonder if they dressed like this every day or just to have their photograph taken.
Related Chronolgy Pages in the Boys' Historical Web Site
[Main Chronology Page]
[The 1880s]
[The 1890s]
[The 1900s]
[The 1910s]
[The 1920s]
[The 1930s]
[The 1940s]
[The 1950s]
[The 1960s]
[The 1970s]
[The 1980s]
Related Style Pages in the Boys' Historical Web Site
[Main school uniform page]
[Main country page]
[Long pants suits]
[Short pants suits]
[Socks]
[Eton suits]
[Jacket and trousers]
[Blazer
[School sandals]
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing School Uniform Pages
[Return to the Main Ecole d'Essey-la-Côte Page]
[Return to the Main School Uniform Country Page]
[Australia]
[England]
[France]
[Germany]
[Italy]
[Japan]
[New Zealand]
[Scotland]
[United States]
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Page
[Introduction]
[Activities]
[Bibliographies]
[Biographies]
[Chronology]
[Clothing styles]
[Country]
[Essays]
[Photography]
[Contributions]
[FAQs]
[French glossary]
[Satellite sites]
[Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]
