Figure 1.--This class portrait from 1985 shows that many children were still wearing school smocks with white collars and bows. The smocks do not seem to have been required.
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Figure 1.--This class portrait from 1985 shows that many children were still wearing school smocks with white collars and bows. The smocks do not seem to have been required. |
HBC believes that chronological trends concerning schoolwear in Italy has been similar to that of France. This is in part because children in both countries have not traditionally worn school uniforms and school clothes are thus in large measure a reflection of regular clothing trends. Our historical information is still very limited. We know boys were commonly wearing school smocks in the 1930s, but we believe that smocks were introduced much earlier. One major exception is school smocks. French boys tended to wear smocks less after World War II (1939-45) and even more so after the 1950s. School smocks in Italy, however, continued to be commonly worn even into the 1970s. While declining in the 1980s and 90s, some Italian children still wear them in the 2000s, although generally younger children in primary school.
We note many boys wearing smocks in school during the 1030s. One class photograph was taken about 1935. All the boys wear similar looking smocks, probably light blue, with white collars and white bows. As all the boys wear the same smocks they are clearly required. There sems to have been no requirement as to what the oys wore with their smocks, although most boys wore short pants.
Italian children were still wearing smocks in the 1980s. The most common color was still blue. We note some children wearing white smocks. Some schools required them, but many schools did not. We believe that they were more common in rural areas than in the cities. Many public schools in the city did not require them. Schools that did rquire smocks still common used smocks with white collars and bows. Unlike earlier years, many boys wore long pants with their smocks.
Figure 2.--School smocks in 2002 were still qite common in Italy, especially for younger children. |
We note that smocks continue to be worn by Italian school children, mostly younger children. The colors appear o be primarily blue (vrious shades), pink, and white. The boys mostly wear the blue smocks. The girls primarily wear the pink and white smocks, but some wear blue as well. One store offered a rather large assortment of different styles, mostly in sized from 3-7 years. Other stores offered others colors like red and green. Common sizes fir the younger children were 55-75 while styles for older children ranged from 55-95 cm, the girls' smocks in larger sizes than the boy's smocks.
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