Figure 1.--This Swedish girl was photographed around 1940 in a small village school. She wears a plain pinafore. A reader providing this image to HBC writes, "She is listening to some explanations from the teacher with all the concentration required. The darkness on her eyes gives to her expression something like a view from within like if we se her intelligence at work. A very, very beautiful picture which always gave me some faith in education."

School uniforms are not common in Sweden. Swedish children in state schools have not worn school uniforms. Children just wore their regular clothes to school. Thus school portraits are a good representation of popular clothing styles over time. Of course children in city schools dressed the most stylishly. Fashions in rural areas and villages tended to lag those in the city. Some private schools have had uniforms, some looking just like British school uniforms. Uniforms at private schools were still worn in the 1960s, but some of the more liberal schools were making them voluntary. Sweden has been influenced by European styles. We also notice casual American styles beginning to become important in the 1950s. The influence here seems to be television and movies. We also see some styles which look to be strongly influenced by the climate. We note considerable seasonal differences. We see children wearing a lot of cold weather garments like jackets, coats, and sweaters.

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

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Created: 3:03 AM 7/1/2007
Last updated: 3:03 AM 7/1/2007