Figure 1.--We see younger boys in nursery school or Kindergarten wearing some specialized styles of short pants. This seems especially the case in France. Here we note many boys wearing bib-front shorts or rompers. We also see boys wearing them at what the French call "colonie de vacances". This seems to be a summer camp, but rather has the look of a nursery school. Here we have a colonie de vacances at Gréoux les bains (near Marseille) in 1951. Click on the image for a more detailed discussion.

We see younger boys in nursery school or Kindergarten wearing some specialized styles of short pants. This seems especially the case in France. Here we note many boys wearing bib-front shorts or rompers. We also see boys wearing them at what the French call "colonie de vacances". This seems to be a summer camp, but rather has the look of a nursery school. Here we have a colonie de vacances at Gréoux les bains (near Marseille) in 1951 (figure 1). All the children wear bib-front shorts. You get the feeling that the school/camp provided them. The boys look to be about 5 to 7 years old. This was a younger age than American parents sent children off to summer camp. You would think there would be a good bit of home sickness. Usually mothers chose the pants boys wore in France and the children wore a mix of outfits, but in some schools we see the children dressed alike, almost like a uniform. This does not seem to have been all that common, but we do npte in in France as well as a few schools in other countries.

Created: 5:47 AM 10/1/2007
Last updated: 7:48 PM 10/3/2007