** school uniform: suit types suits blazers






School Suit Types


Figure 1.--Boys at this English school wore grey blazers, noting the purple piping. The outfit looks rather like a suit because the boys also wear grey short trousers. Most English school uniform suits were grey. Blazers were usually a different color than the standaed grey or blackn trousers. In this case the blazer is flannel, but the shorts were Terrelyn worsted.

We note boys wearing a wide variety of formal outfits to school. Younger boys wore a range of different suit styles. Here the sailor suit was especially popular, but we see a lot of other styles. Some boys even wore Fauntleroy sits to school. Older boys wore standard sack suits. Here there were a variety of suit syles. Boys wore reflecting the popular styling of the time. We see single- and double-breasted jackets with rageod styling. They were worn with knee pants, short pants, knickers, and long pants. Many private schools adopted suits as part of a uniform. This was epecially true in Britain where grey suits were a popular choice. Another popular choice at British scholls was the blazer. alternative was the blazer. Legend has it that blazers first appeared on a British naval vessel, the HMS Blazer in preparation for a visit by Queen Victoria. Some authors insist that they have been unable to find evidence of the HMS Blazer. They maintain that this is fiction and that the blazer originated in the bright jackets worn by a rowing club. The term blazer originaing in comments such as, "I say, Percival. Did you see that chap's jacket? A bit of a blazer, eh what?" What ever their origins, blazers were adopted by British school boys and came to become the primary uniform element of generations of school boys. A great variety of colors and striped blazers were worn by British boys from the 1920s through the 1970s. The cost of the blazers and a trend of simplifying the uniform caused many schools using blazers, primarily preparatory schools, to retire the more expensive striped blazers. Most secondary schools continue to require blazers, but it is usually a basic black one. Several countries instead of suits as we normally define them had a variety of military styles.

Sailor Suits

The sailor suit was especially popular in many countries. There were many different styles. Sailor suits were usually not worn as part of a school uniform. The sailor suit during the late 19th and early 20th century was widely worn to school by boys in many Europeam countries. It was especially common in France and Germany. Interestingly it was least common in England, the country where boys first wore sailor suits and which had the most poweful navy. It was also worn in America, but perhaps because of the British connection not as commonly as in Europe. A few schools, mostly military schools hadsailor suit uniforms, but for the most part boys simply wore it because it was a common boys' clothing style. Sailor suits becan to commonly appear in the schools during the 1970s and were commonly worn through the 1920. The began to decline in popularity during the 1930s, but trends varied from country to country.

Other Styles for Younger Boys

Some boys even wore Fauntleroy sits to school. More common forv younger boys in the 19th century was the cut-away jacket.

Sack Suits

Most boys wearing suits wore standard sack suits. The suit became the became the standard for boys' wear, including school wear. Here there were a variety of suit syles. Boys wore reflecting the popular styling of the time. We see single- and double-breasted jackets with rageod styling. They were worn with knee pants, short pants, knickers, and long pants. There were both regukar suits and school uniform suits. The two were related. Schools generally afopted single-breasted jckets for school unifiorm suits. And of course this affected styling for non-uniform suits. Many private schools adopted suits as part of a uniform. This was epecially true in Britain where grey suits were a popular choice. Black and navy vlue suits suits were also popular in America.

Blazers

Another popular choice at British scholls was the blazer. alternative was the blazer. Legend has it that blazers first appeared on a British naval vessel, the HMS Blazer in preparation for a visit by Queen Victoria. Some authors insist that they have been unable to find evidence of the HMS Blazer. They maintain that this is fiction and that the blazer originated in the bright jackets worn by a rowing club. The term blazer originaing in comments such as, "I say, Percival. Did you see that chap's jacket? A bit of a blazer, eh what?" What ever their origins, blazers were adopted by British school boys and came to become the primary uniform element of generations of school boys. A great variety of colors and striped blazers were worn by British boys from the 1920s through the 1970s. The cost of the blazers and a trend of simplifying the uniform caused many schools using blazers, primarily preparatory schools, to retire the more expensive striped blazers. Most secondary schools continue to require blazers, but it is usually a basic black one.

Military Styles

Several countries instead of suits as we normally define them had a variety of military styles. This included both military and non-military schools. We note many French boys wearing military styles in the late-19th and 20th century. This seems to have been mosrly secondary schools. Some Germany boys wore military styles, but this seems to have been primarily at cadet schools. Many private schools in America were organized as military boardung schools. The Japanese used a Prussian military jacket for boys and sailor outfits for girls, The Soviets wore a bklue jacket with military styles elements for boys. The girls did not have a military style and wore pinafores with dresses.






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Created: 9:11 PM 8/11/2011
Last updated: 9:11 PM 8/11/2011