Figure 1.--There are two kinds of pinafores shown her. The girls wear dark colored tradutuional smocks. The boys who wear identical sailor suits, also wear identical pinafore smocks, to protect their sailor suits. This image is undated, but we beliebe it is a German photograph taken about 1910. It shows some children playing in what is presumably their nursery at home.

After the turn of the 20th century boys no longer commonly wore the traditionally styled pinafores now commonly associated with girls. We have, however, noted boys wearing some very plain pinafore-like garments. These pinafores did not have many of the features assocaited with girls' pinafores like shoulder ruffles and back-tieing bows. These sinmple and expensive pinafores generally buttoned at the shoulders and were made in variety of colors. This could possibly be labeled a smock, but because it does not cover the arms, it fits better under the pinafore designation. I'm not sure when they first appeared. We begin to see them after the turn of the 20th centiry. We have noted these garments being worn in Germany, but assume that they were worn in other countries as well, although our infornation is very limited at this time. We have noted these garments being worn as late as the 1960s in Switzerland. They were worn both at home and for school. Conventions varied. Some boys might just wear these pinafore smocks while playing at home. The children here are wearing their pinafore smocks while playing in what is presumably their nursery at home (figure 1). The boys are wearing smock type garments over their sailor suits - I presume the girls are wearing similar garments. Other boys might wear them to school.

Created: August 20, 2002
Last updated: August 20, 2002