Figure 1.--Here we see the school in 1917 during World War I. There is no school uniform, but the boys all wear suits. Many of the younger boys wear kneepants suits.

We know that it was founded in 1842 and operated through 1992. School photographs are available showing schoolwear changes in a rural area of France over many decades. Unfortunately most of the school portrairs were taken outside apparently during the Winter. Thus the boys are usually bundled up and you often can not tell how they were dressed under their coasts. Even so the school photographic archive does constitute a interesting record of the school. As well as changing French boy's wear fashions over time. One factor to bear in mind is this is an agricultural school, the boys probably do not dress as fashionably as boys might in schools attracting children froim urban communities.

The 1880s

Here we see the school portrait in the 1890s. The school was still relativeky small. There look to be about 60 boys. We also note the clerics on the staff. The particular image image we have is from 1894. There is no uniform, but all the boys wear dark suits. Notably the boys all wear sack suits with lapels. We note a very wide range of neckwear, including Windsor ties and what look like bow ties. Some of the boys wear waistcoats, although it is not possible to know how common this was as most boys havwe buttonef their jackets. All of the boys wear long pants.

The 1890s

We do not have any good images of the school in the 1890s. One portrait from the 1890-91 school year shows the boys wearing suits, quite similat to the styles we saw in the 1880s. The boys are still wearing mostly sack suits with lapels and collars and neckwear. It is difficult to tell from the photograph, but most the boys look to be wearing long pants. Mosr boys seem to have worn a militar-style cap.

The 1900s

We see the boys still wearing suits in the 1900s. A few boys have military-style caps, but they do not seenm as common as we noted in the 1890s. The boys are wearing sack suits with lapels, The lapels are still set quite high. Most boys have white shirts with collars and various kinds of necvkwrear. We see boys wearing knickers and more commonly kneepants. Given the way the photograph is set up, it is difficult to determine which kind of pants are more common. We suspect thst m,ost boys are wearing long pants.

The 1910s

The boys in the 1910s wore both the suits that buttoned at the collar and the suits with "V" fronts and lapels. A few boys wore styles such as Eton collars, cut-away jackets, and sailor styles. Most boys wore neckties, but we see a few boys with floppy bows. It is difficult to tell the way the photographs are posed, but most boys appear to be wearing long pants. A few of the younger boys wear kneepants, but we do not note many boys wearing knickers.

The 1920s

Boys at the school still wear suits. Almost all boys wear the sack suit with lapels and neckties. We see more varied colors. Before World War I, most boys wore dark suits. We see more lihjter-colored suits in the 1920s. We also see a few boys wearing sailor suits which we did not note in the 1910s. This is a little surprising as the sailor suit seemed a popular style in the 1910s. We are unsure why we only begin seeing them at the school in the 1910s. We believe many of the younger boys are wearing short pants suits with kneesocks, but this is difficult to tell from the portraits.

The 1930

Most boys still wore suits. Boys geneally wore ties with their suits, but it is a little hard to tell in several cassess. Quite a few bioys were not wearing ties. We see some boys wearing sweaters with and without suit jackets. We see both patterened and solid colored sweaters. We still see a few boys wearing sailor suits in quite varied styles. Most of the younger boys appear to be wearing short pants suits. We see some boys wearing casual jackets rather than suit jackets. Most of these leisure jackets were solid colors, but we note one older boy with a rather wild jacket.

The 1940s

We do not have much information on the 1940s. We note the school in 1940-41 was much smaller than shown in the school portraits of the 1930s. France was defeated by the Germans and much of the country occupied (June 1940). We assume that the reduced enrollment had something to do with the German occupation. We have no information as to what happened at the school during the War (1939-45). We do note that the enrollments recovered after the War. Boys during the 1940s still laragely wore suits to school. We note, however, that a substantil number of boys wear leisure jackets rather than suit coats.

The 1950s

The 1960s

The school is much smaller by the 1960s. We suspect this reflects decling inbterest in agriculture among young people. School clothes are now much more casual thasn in earlier years. The school is still all boys. Several boys still wear suit jackets, bit most boys just wear casual shirts. Ties are no longer c0mmonly worn.

Created: 5:12 PM 11/18/2004
Last updated: 11:06 PM 11/18/2004