As we enter the autumn of this strange year, most children are now back at school, many wearing some form of regulation uniform. Here we look at the evolution of school uniform – a neat standardised set of clothes aimed at setting basic standards of appearance, fostering an esprit de corps and representing their institution.

Historical dress
Primary historical records concerning the development of school wear in Britain are fragmented, mainly localised sources, and there has been no wide-ranging, in-depth study of the development of academic uniform. Some of the earliest educational establishments were charity schools and these often received donated garments or developed their own identifiable mass-produced image. One famous example is Christ’s Hospital (‘The Bluecoat School’) which opened in London in 1552, now based in Horsham, West Sussex: the distinctive dress worn by the school’s first pupils was continued down the centuries, present-day students still wearing striking Tudor-style dark blue coats with white falling neck ‘bands’, knee breeches and yellow stockings or socks, in honour of their impressive heritage.

Otherwise regulation school uniforms in a designated colour and style were uncommon before the 19th century. The gradual emergence of a smart, closely prescribed uniform for Victorian schoolboys was influenced by various factors: the development of recognisable civilian uniforms in many occupations (see our History in the Details columns June 2019 to February 2020); advances in sportswear; and, more generally, the growing sobriety and uniformity of male fashion.

19th-century uniforms
Elite schools educating a privileged minority paved the way in designing identifiable garments for their pupils. The iconic Eton suit was introduced at Eton College in Berkshire (established 1440) in about 1820 for boys measuring under 5ft 4ins: this comprised a short, dark ‘bum freezer’ jacket, grey trousers, large starched white collar and tall top hat. Although later modified to reflect wider fashion, this uniform set a recognised standard, a black suit including tailcoat and formal white tie still prevailing at Eton today. Indeed, the late-Georgian Eton uniform was subsequently emulated to varying degrees at other establishments: for example, many Victorian grammar schools introduced – or formalised – a sober uniform consisting of short dark jacket and trousers, a starched white Eton collar, bow tie or knotted tie and a less formal round cap.

Similarly, by the 1890s younger board school boys generally wore a standardised set of clothes comprising knee-length knickerbockers, black woollen stockings, leather boots and a tailored lounge or Norfolk jacket, their shirts beneath featuring starched Eton-style collars. The Norfolk jacket, identifiable by its cloth belt and vertical stitched-down pleats, originated as a man’s country sporting garment and became popular with boys for both school and weekend wear during the 1880s/1890s, the distinctive Eton collar also entering everyday dress. For school, this outfit was teamed with a regular male cloth cap or a neat round cap similar to those worn by Victorian cricketers and other sportsmen. Like sporting clubs, some schools devised their own distinctive colours, so the schoolboy’s cap sometimes bore an identifying stripe.

Reflecting these new developments, designated school uniform departments began to appear in fashionable department stores up and down the country, upmarket independent outfitters also stocking the prescribed uniform of their local schools. Victorian uniforms, especially tailored suits, were usually bespoke, made-to measure, and representatives from stores might travel far afield to boarding schools, to measure fast-growing pupils needing new garments mid-term.

Early school uniforms for girls were inspired largely by the demands of sport and physical exercise. Female pupils did not generally wear a regular school uniform in the 19th century but functional kit was evolving for girls’ team sports such as cricket and rowing. Some progressive late-Victorian schools also taught drill, early forms of gymnastics and ‘callisthenics’ (rhythmic physical movements): clearly, fashionable fitted bodices and long skirts were unsuitable for energetic activities and so in such institutions stretchy jerseys or loose blouses and knee-length skirts or ‘bloomers’ were worn with coloured waist sashes. An early form of the gymslip also developed for the same purpose in the 1880s – a short-sleeved or sleeveless blue serge dress worn over a blouse. Later this practical sporting garment would cross over into everyday school uniform for girls.

Young children in local Victorian schools were not usually required to wear special garments, even after regular attendance at school was encouraged following the passing of the School Acts of the 1870s. If the school photographer or somebody important was about to pay a visit, children were simply told to ‘come clean’ the next day, regular school photography becoming established during the 1880s. Most boys wore their ordinary weekday clothes to school – jackets or smocks, trousers and boots or clogs, girls dressing in contemporary plain-coloured or printed frocks, pinafores, stockings and boots. In poor urban and rural communities it was an acknowledged challenge for the woman of the house to provide neat, clean clothes for her school-age children, especially well-fitting footwear. To arrive at school in bare feet was a humiliating experience – the sign of utter, undeniable poverty – and mothers struggling with to manage an inadequate household budget frequently went without themselves, to ensure that their children looked decent for school.

20th-century school wear
The ubiquitous late-Victorian boy’s suit comprising knickerbockers, Norfolk or lounge jacket, white shirt with Eton collar and bow tie or long knotted tie remained common for school boys throughout the Edwardian period. Comfortable shorts were already being adopted for sports and after the First World War, as dress in general became briefer and simpler in style, old-fashioned bulky knickerbockers largely gave way to shorts for younger boys, traditional black stockings and boots being superseded by socks and laced shoes. Elementary school boys still rarely wore a prescribed uniform but by the 1920s typically a stretchy, comfortable hand- or machine-knitted sweater and shorts: sweaters featured integral knitted collars and often a tie in the same or a contrasting colour.

For older male pupils the more modern school uniform of grey flannel shorts, shirt, knotted tie, school blazer and cap became widely established between the world wars. Schools developed their own designated colours for blazers, sweaters, ties and caps and these often bore contrasting stripes, as well as cloth blazer and cap badges. Older boys would wear long flannel trousers, schools usually setting age or height criteria for the wearing of ‘longs’. Laced leather shoes were expected for the classroom, white canvas sneakers or plimsolls worn for PE and games. The archetypal 1920s school boy’s uniform remained little changed until well into the second half of the 20th century. It featured prominently in popular stories like the ‘Jennings’ novels, written by Anthony Buckeridge from 1950 until the mid-1970s.

Elementary-school girls wore ordinary dresses that followed fashionable lines, the loose smock frock of the 1890s and early 1900s often protected beneath a white pinafore. The early 20th century was a key period in the development of girls’ education and accordingly of school uniforms. Many middle-class girls were no longer being educated by a private home tutor, but alongside their peers in prestigious boarding schools or local grammar schools. As adolescent girls gained a new sense of shared female identity, a pronounced ‘schoolgirl’ culture developed, much encouraged by the lively school novels by writers such as Angela Brazil and Enid Blyton. By the 1920s school stories were the most popular girls’ literature, a team-like school uniform playing an important role in defining their collective image.

During the 1910s the one-piece ‘gymslip’, originally devised for sports, was also increasingly worn as ordinary school uniform by younger girls, with a blouse and dark stockings or shorter socks. Initially older pupils wore a plain tailored calf-length skirt and masculine shirt and tie, much like the business-like office wear favoured by young working women. Later, during the 1920s and 1930s many older schoolgirls also adopted the functional gymslip with a shirt and school tie, the skirt hemline lengthening or rising according to fashion. Pleated knee-length skirts grew popular by mid-century and cardigans or V-necked sweaters were worn in the school colours, echoing boys’ school uniforms. Girls also wore school blazers in the school colours and smart felt hats in winter bearing the school hatband and badge, straw boaters in summer. This traditional, standardised image, thought to reflect well on the institution and improve pupils’ conduct, persisted until at least the 1960s, and is still emulated today by status-conscious educational establishments overseas. During the late 1900s formal school uniforms grew unfashionable but many schools now encourage standardised clothes again as a practical, economical and equitable form of dress.