Corduroy Fabric: France


Figure 1.-- This French boy wears a corduroy knee pants sailor suit. Unfortunately the post mark is unclear, but it was probanly mailed about 1910.

The use of corduroy in France has varied over time. Cord shorts were commonly worn by French boys. They appaer to have been especially popular during the 1930s and 40s. Several Scout groups adopted them for their uniform. A few private schools also adopted them--usually blue cords. The French term for corduroy is " velours côtelé ". The special corduroy for babies and little children has very small cordeds (wales) is referred to as " velours millerais ". It was expensive, but used for quality short pants, rompers, and jackets. Women working these garments for younger children were called " culottière ". It rquired careful work, especially because these garments were were made with lining, but the seams could not show. By the 1950s these corduroy clothes became popular outfits for Sunday wear and less expensive versions appeared. French Scouts from an eraly period wore cord shorts and some still do. The most common color for Scout shorts is brown. Cord shorts were also worn to school in some cases part of a school uniform. While most French schools did not have uniforms, some private Catholic schools did require uniforms. The uniforms were commonly a whote or light blue short worn with grey or dark blue short pants.






HBC





Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Return to the Main French page]
[Introduction] [Activities] [Biographies] [Chronology] [Clothing styles] [Countries]
[Bibliographies] [Contributions] [Essays] [FAQs] [Glossaries] [Images] [Links] [Registration] [Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]



Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing national pages:
[Return to the Main corduroy country page]
[Australia] [Belgium] [England] [France] [Germany] [Ireland] [Italy] [Japan] [Korea]
[Mexico] [The Netherlands] [Scotland] [United States]



Created: 9:34 PM 3/6/2009
Last updated: 9:34 PM 3/6/2009