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The pinafore is normally thought of a white garment and normally worn crisply starched. The reason is simole, white was hands down the pribcipal color of pinafores girls wore. School images from the late-19th and even early-20th century show a virtual sea of white among the girls (figure 1). The reason for this was how mothers dealt with laundry. It was a major activity, often with an entire day once aweek devoted to it. There were no laundry detergents and no washing machines. There was, however, a lot of hot water required and elbow grease. The reason so many were white is that bleech could be used with white clothes. And bleach could get the clothes really clean with less hot water and elnow grease. Colored clothes were a different. There were few color-fast dyes and bleach would really fade the colors. There were infact colored pinafores. Notice the French girl wearing a pink pinafore at school on the previous page. We have also noticed stripped pinafores. While most pinafores in old school portraits look white, this may be because thaey were often taken at a distance. The few available closeups shows that there were many pinafofres made with patterns.
Related Chronolgy Pages in the Boys' Historical Web Site
[The 1840s]
[The 1930s]
[The 1940s]
[The 1930s]
[The 1940s]
[The 1950s]
[The 1960s]
[The 1970s]
[The 1980s]
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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