Figure 1.-- This class of primary students was taken in Switzerland during 1945, the final year of World War II. The children seem to be dressed quite informally. Most of the boys wear short trousers, long stockings, and knitted jerseys, but there is some variety.

We do not yet have sufficient Swiss school images to assess chronological trends in schoolwear. We have, however, begun to collect images and hope to eventually be able to make an assessment. We do not yet have sufficient Swiss school images to assess chronological trends in schoolwear. We have, however, begun to collect images and hope to eventually be able to make an assessment. Schoolwear styles as best we can tell wee bascally the same as popular styles in France and Germany. Switzerland had a mixed population consisting of mostly French and Germn speakers. We note a charming 19th century scene by Swiss artist Marc Louis Benjamin Vautier. He dsepicts a mother bringing her little boy for his first day of school at a small rural school.

The 16th Century

Hans Holbein the Younger has provided us a glimpse of a schoolin 1516. It is apparently a school operated by his friend Oswald Myconius, we think in Berne. While this is in Switzerland, it probably represents a reasonable depiction of schools throughout Germany. Myconius could not pursue a clerical career because he married. This was why many men turned to teaching at the time. His wife is helping in hos school class. This of course changed with the Reformation when Protestant churches allowed clerics to marry.

The 19th Century

We note a charming 19th century scene by Swiss artist Marc Louis Benjamin Vautier. He depicts a mother probably at mid-century bringing her little boy for his first day of school at a small rural school.The boys wear knee breches and long pants. Some are barefoot. We see some wooden shoesin additioin tomleather shoes.

The 20th Century

The 1930s

The 1940s

This class of primary students was taken in Switzerland during 1945, the final year of World War II (figure 1). The children seem to be dressed quite informally. Most of the boys wear short trousers, long stockings, and knitted jerseys, but there is some variety. Four of the boys sitting in the front row wear long stockings (brown, beige, and black), but one boy (2nd from the right) wears knee socks with his shorts. Note that several of the boys with long stockings also wear ankle socks as extra protection. The two boys in the front row on the extreme left wear plus fours (very long knickers that blouse almost to mid-calf). The boy at the extreme left (front row) with the striped jersey wears knickers (plus fours) with a bib front like overalls. This style seems to have somewhat uncommon.. Theree of the boys hold up their short trousers with suspenders that are buttoned on and are separate garments, i.e., they are not suspender shorts. Suspenders for boys were very common in Germany and Switzerland during the 1940s.

The 1950s

A detail from a larger class picture provides some clues on 1950s styles. We know the precise date: 1 February 1955. It shows two Swiss schoolboys at their school in a suburb of Zurich. Notice the warm winter clothes--woolen sweaters, short trousers, and long woolen stockings. These boys seem to be about 12 or 13, the age when they would be beginning their secondary education. It may be a Gymnasium although most schools in Switzerland were co-educational in the 1950s. These very middle-class boys are probably wearing Strapsleichen with four commercial wire loop and rubber button supporters attached since the stockings seem very neatly and tautly held in place. Many highschool boys wore rather fully cut plusfours with knee socks during the 1950s in Switzerland, but some mothers still dressed their sons in the more conservatively styled short trousers and long stockings during winter. Some boys preferred shorts because of the greater freedom of movement permitted and the easier riding of bicycles. The colors are interesting also. One boy wears light tan (almost beige) stockings while the other one seems to be in dark brown hosiery.

The 1960s

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Created: 12:03 AM 6/16/2007
Last updated: 10:16 PM 1/31/2020