*** Argentine school smocks guardapolvo escolar chronology








Argentine School Smocks: Chronology

Argentine school smocks
Figure 1.--This third grade boy here from a private school wears a white lab-style front buttoning smock. This was a popular style for boys. We believe this photograph was taken in the 1970s. Note the white smock has stylish colored trin (pocket and belt). This suggests a privte school. Also notice the grey short pants and knee socks, a British school influence, also often a private school.

We have very limited information on the chronology of Argentine school smocks, but have begun to collect some basic information. Hopefully Argentine readers will be able to provide us some additional information. Argenine schools began using smocks as school wear around 1905/1910 (first at manual activities' classes and then in some experimental schools), and the first regulation was issued in 1914, actually authorizing the use of smocks but not mandating it (there was a former rule that said that no uniforms could be mandated). I have not found so far a regulation that mandates them for children, although they have always been used and people think that they are mandatory. An Argentine reader writes, "I think it's the same thing than in France: to make it mandatory would imply denying access to children who did not wear them and that was something that the school system could not afford to do." Soon after, parents' associations began distributing them for free among the needy, and in the 1930s, a conservative government launched a national campaign of distribution of clothes and food, smocks among them, to school children in poorer districts. This is the time, when they really were adopted everywhere in Argenyina. Earlier photographs from outlying provinces show students in ragged clothes, without smocks, but in the 1930s, there is a notable tendency for students all over the country to wear smocks. Smocks were still commonly worn in the 1980s. Argentine sources report that in the early 2000s that they are still widely worn.

The 1900s

One Argenine source tells us that schools began using smocks as school wear around 1905/1910, byt not as general schoolwear. The were first used in practical classes, manual activities like carpentry. Then they were introduced in some experimental schools, although we do not yet have evidence of that. School portrits do not show show any children wearing white smocks. Some Italian immigrant children may have worn smovks, but our Argentine archive is not substantial enough to know how common that was.

The 1910s

The first actual Government regulation was issued in 1914, actually authorizing the use of smocks but not mandating it (there was a former rule that said that no uniforms could be mandated). I have not found so far a regulation that mandates them for children. School portaits show a mixed situation during the 1910s. Smocks were mostly worn in Buenos Aires and some od the larger cities. Photographs from outlying provinces often show students in ragged clothes, without smocks. Other school portraits show a few boys wearing smocks. Another Argentine reader tells us a little different story. "The idea of school smock akso began in the 1910s and it was a movement that begun by the initiative of the teachers. Not by the government. The idea was to teach the children cleanness and pulchritude. Also it had a hidden agent of disguising social classes." The situation not be as clear cut as the two views suggested here. We suspect that both government official and teachers supported the idea.

The 1920s

We notice an increasing number of Argentine children wearing school smocks in the 1920s. Even in rural schools the children, both boys and girls, were wearing smocks. Rural areas tend to be the last to adopt tghe latest fashions or Government regulations. The smocks at state schools, however, were not yet mandatory. An Argentine reader writes, "... to make it mandatory would imply denying access to children who did not wear them and that was something that the school system could not afford to do." Here we think our Argentine reader means that it school authorities were no willing to adopt uniform regulations out of concern over denying access to many children from low-income families. Parents' associations began distributing smocks for free to needy families. This helped to further establish the smock as standard schoolwear. We notice different styles being worn by both boys and girls. Not all the smocks were white, but his was the dominnt color.

The 1930s

Ther was a notable tendency in the 1930s for for students all over the country to wear smocks to school. It is at this time the school smock became widely accepted throughout the country. Many people began to think that they were a practical and suitable school garment. Some thought that they had always been worn and were mandatory. This is probably similar to what happened in France. A conservative government in the 1930s launched a national campaign of distributing clothes (including school smocks) and food to school children in poorer districts. This is the time, when school smocks really were adopted throughout Argenyina.

The 1940s


The 1950s

We have no information on Argentine school smocks during the 1950s other than a snap shot of a group of boys on their way to school. I think it is a state school, but I am not sure. We think these smocks were very common throughout Argentina, but we have no written sources on this yet. The boys are wearing front buttoning white lab-coat smocks. They have jacket-like lapels. This style seems to have been worn by boys for some time. The children of different ages all wear white smocks with different styles for boys and girls. The boys wear front-buttoning lab-coat style smocks and the girls and younger boys back-buttoning styles. The gender specific styling appears to be well established.

The 1960s

We do not have much information on Argentine school smocks during the 1960s, but as far as we can tell, children continued to wear the white school smocks that begn to vbe worn in the 1920s. White school smocks were strandard in state primary schools. The family snapshots and school portrairs show this. The primary children of different ages, both boys and girls, all wear white smocks, but different styles. The boys wear front-buttoning lab-coat style smocks and the girls and younger boys back-buttoning styles. The gender specific styling appears to be well established. We also see smocks in secondary schools, but only the girls wearing them.

The 1970s

We believe that school smocks were commonly worn in the 1970s. We believe that white smocks were almost universal. The boy here from a private school wears a white lab-style front buttoning smock (figure 1). This appears to have been a common style for boys. Girls more commonly wore back buttoning styles. We believe that similar school smocks were commonly worn at state schools, but have no information yet to conform this. Most of the smocks we have noted were white, but in black and white photographs we also notice some colored smocks. We are not sxure yet just ehat the colors were.

The 1980s

An Argentine reader tells us that school smocks were still commonly worn during the 1980s.

The 1990s

We note some colored smocks in the 1990s. We are not sure when they were first introduced. Blue smocks for boys and pink smocks for boys seems to have been a popular convention. The colored smocks we notice were ar private schools. We are not sure if these colored smovcks were also adopted ar state schools.

The 2000s

Argentine sources report that in the early 2000s that they are still widely worn.







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Created: May 4, 2000
Last updated: 7:52 PM 8/26/2017