Individual School Uniform: Scuola Italiano in Tangiers



Figure 1.--This class photograph for 1951-52 has several boys who do not wear the school smock. One boy in the school smock wears what looks like a cap--the only boy wearing one.

HBC has little information on the Tangiers Scuola Italiano, but we have noted several images illustrating schoolwear trends during the 1950s. The pupils wear the classic dark Italian back-buttoning school smock with emaculate wide white colars. The school appears to have been very strict about the style and color of the smocks woren to school. Not only are the smocks identical, but so are the white colars. While almost all of the children wear school smocks, in most of the class photographs there usualy appear to be a few children that are not wearing the smocks. We are not sure just what the school regulation was. Perhaps an exception was made for the Tunisian boys at the school. One would think that the dress code would have been enforced especially strictly on on school photograph day, so it it is unlikely that these boys normally wore smocks to school. At any rate, they could have easily borrowed one from another boy. Most of the boys at the school wore short pants under their school smocks, but a few boys also wore long pants and knickers. One boy wore an English-looking school "V"-neck sweater with colored trim. Ankle socks were common, but kneesocks were also worn. A few boys wore sandals. There does not seem to have been any particular rule about what the boys wore under their smocks given the variety of outfits.

The School

HBC has little information on the Tangiers Scuola Italiano. Most of the class photo are single gender classes, but we do note one coed class on 1955-56. We have little information about the school at this time. We do note operations through 1980, but do not know if it still exists.

Tangier

Tangiers has a long tradition of international contact. It is now in Morocco, having been in internationally controlled port up to 1956, and British, Spanish, and Portuguese before that.

Chronology

HBC has noted several images illustrating schoolwear trends during the 1950s. The only information we have at this time dates from the 1950s.



Figure 2.--This class photograph for 1955-56 includes both boys and girls. The children all seem to wear the same dark smocks, but there is some difference in the collars. One boy has a very wide collat and one wears no collar at all. The boys wear a variety of pants, short pants, knickers, and long pants.

Smock Styles

Most ofvthe pupils wear the classic dark Italian back-buttoning school smock with emaculate wide white colars. The smocks look very similar indeed. The images, however, are very low resolution. Higher resolution images would probably show small differences. We do note, for example, a few front buttoning smocks with the buttins set off to the side. Virtually all the children wear their smocks with these white collars. Usually the white collars are virtually identical, but a 1955-56 portrait shows some differences. We do not know what color these smocks are. We think that they are probably navy blue, but they could be black.

Other Clothes

Most of the boys at the school wore short pants under their school smocks, but a few boys also wore long pants and knickers. One boy wore an English-looking school "V"-neck sweater with colored trim. Ankle socks were common, but kneesocks were also worn. A few boys wore sandals. One boy wears a cap--the only boy pictured with headgear. Some of the older boys wear suits. In this case they wear suits rather than the school smock. The boys wear both long and short pants suits.

School Regulation

The school appears to have been very strict about the style and color of the smocks worn to school. Not only are the smocks identical, but so are the white colars. While almost all of the children wear school smocks, in most of the class photographs there usualy appear to be a few children that are not wearing the smocks. We are not sure just what the school regulation was. Perhaps a exception was made for the Tunisian boys at the school. One would think that the dress code would have been enforced especially strictly on on school photograph day, so it it is unlikely that these boys normally wore smocks to school. At any rate, they could have easily borrowed one from another boy. There does not seem to have been any particular rule about what the boys wore under their smocks given the variety of outfits. Apparently the older boys at the school were given an option about wearing smocks, but about half of the boys wore them for the school portrait. We are not sure to what extent this was the boy's choive or his parents. The other boys wore suits.



Figure 3.--This class photograph for 1953-54 of the older boys shows about half the class wearing suits. Smocks were apparently optional for them, but about half of the class wore their smocks.

Gender

Both boys and girls at the school wore identical smocks with the same wide white collar.

Age

There seem to be no differences as to age. All the children wear the same dark smock and wide white collar. We do note that theolder boys were allowed to opt to wear suits rather than smocks for their class portrait. We do not know if this was permitted during a normal school day. The only exception is the nursery school class where the children wear a white smock.






Christopher Wagner





Related Chronolgy Pages in the Boys' Historical Web Site
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Related Style Pages in the Boys' Historical Web Site
[Long pants suits] [Knicker suits] [Short pants suits] [Socks] [Eton suits] [Jacket and trousers] [Blazer] [School sandals] [School smocks] [Sailor suits] [Pinafores] [Long stockings]


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Created: September 3, 2001
Last updated: September 3, 2001