Figure 1.--This cabinet card shows an unidentified English girls primary school we think in the 1900s. It was clearly a church school, presumably an Anglican school. Notice almost all of the girls wear pinfores, mostly wehire pinsfoires. There sare a fe colored pinsfores. We see quite a mix of ages. Several of the older girls are noy wearing pinafoires, but we see large lacy cillars, more like capes. Click on `the image to see more of the girls.

We continue to see girls in many countries wearing pinafores to school after the turn-of-the 20th century. School portraits show that thery were still very common. This of course varied from country to country. We have detailed information on some countries like America and England. Pinafores seem less common in France and Italy were smocks were weuidely worn. We have very little information on many other countries. It is difficult to date the images unless there is a caption on the back. As far as we can tell, this continues to be what the girls commonly wore, not school rules. We continue to see mostly white pintafores. White was no universal, but the vast majority of girls wore white pinafores. Pinafores were still very common in the 1900s and 10s, but we have difficulty differentiting beteween these two decadees. Pinafores quckly declined after World War I in the 1920s. The major factor here as far as we can tell technology. Laundry continued to be a major task that mothers faced every week. Washing machines began to appear as well as modern lundry detergents. This all made the need for pinafores to protect the girls' dress became less and less mecessary. By the 1930s they were not common any more. Much later we see ehat was called pinafore dresses, but the pinafore was nerr an important garments after the 1910s. We no longer see classes with most of the girls wearing pinafores.

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: 8:03 AM 7/16/2021
Last updated: 8:03 AM 7/16/2021