school uniforms

[George 1978]

Some school uniforms were passed on to other families with younger children going to the same school.

Makes sense because no other school would have the same uniform, but I bet a mile off that others could see that they weren't brand new - ironic that uniform makes people equal and so one would think that it wouldn't happen.

[George 1978]

Trisha and Justine looked great in their uniforms, and ironically, Justine looked more grown up in hers! Probably because the class of 1988 was more liberalised and grown up than the class of 1978.

Boys' school uniform sans school badge looked like an adult man's business suit only for a smaller person, and so I suppose that boys wouldn't have much to say about it - when they left school and gone to university, etc, they probably would have become successful in life such as become a businessman, an MP or a Chief Executive where they would have had to wear something that resembles a blazer or jacket, trousers and tie anyway. A woman in the same situation would not have worn something that resembled a girls' school uniform for obvious reasons - the fact of the matter is that females change more between childhood and adulthood than males do and that is more than apparent in this instance.

[ericthecavalier]

I still have my primary school tie 42 years on

[George 1978]

I still have my primary school tie 42 years on

And you never got round to burning it? (which seemed to be a tradition on the last day of school).

[George 1978]

I read over the weekend about some schoolboy who wore his sister's skirt to school because of the hot weather and the fact that boys could only wear trousers which in this instance, was too hot in order to wear them (talk about hot pants!) Shorts were not permitted either (to be honest, I would rather wear trousers rather than shorts in any case, even in hot weather). The irony was that this was in Scotland where the kilt has been traditional for centuries, although not as part of school uniform!

Surely, that sort of thing didn't go on in our day, did it?

[manofkent59]

Can anyone remember your school uniform in the 70s, my was short,grey shorts and grey knee socks, shirt and tie and cap. Oh what memories. Did anyone else have to dress like that.

Yep. Primary school 60s and early 70s - grey shorts all year round, grey knee socks which slipped down to the ankles, shirt, tie, cap. Secondary school basically the same formal style except shorts replaced by long trousers, and no cap. One boy wore shorts to secondary school from 11-13 - the only boy in the school to do so. White shorts for PE and dark blue footy shorts though think I got away with a pair of lighter blue nylon footy shorts higher up the school. Woe betide if you wore your coloured football shorts to PE lessons!

[manofkent59]

Yep. Primary school 60s and early 70s - grey shorts all year round, grey knee socks which slipped down to the ankles, shirt, tie, cap. Secondary school basically the same formal style except shorts replaced by long trousers, and no cap. One boy wore shorts to secondary school from 11-13 - the only boy in the school to do so. White shorts for PE and dark blue footy shorts though think I got away with a pair of lighter blue nylon footy shorts higher up the school. Woe betide if you wore your coloured football shorts to PE lessons!

Plus of course the school blazer at both schools

[manofkent59]

What Team - can I ask???

80sChav

None specifically. Not sure why I wore light blue football shorts to be honest. I don't support Chelsea.

Even in the 6th form a couple of lads were in trouble for wearing coloured football socks to PE. They were lucky to get let off with a warning not to wear them again instead of getting the slipper which they would have got in earlier years.

[manofkent59]

True but I always tried to pick the battles I could win (or say things like I picked up my Football Team Shorts by mistake that morning) or others are doing Football Teams one or my PE 1s was not clean/been washed in time!

80sChav

The PE teachers at my schools had heard all the excuses!

[manofkent59]

Sounds like my old School's .... if you was a Good Sportsman, they ignored the ones that bent the rules!!

Yeah they were both lads who played on the school teams so that was probably why they were let off a slippering!

[manofkent59]

Very true indeed ..... yeah

I bet did you wear your Tie thin side out mate??

Don't think so. I hope you didn't wear trainers instead of proper black shoes?! You'd have been in trouble.......

[Victoria O'Keefe]

This is what you are happy to do once you leave year 12 and you no longer have to be “miss” or “sir”’s little toy…

[Victoria O'Keefe]

[W1 Rover]

On a sub-not here ... who would not want to be a bad lad/gurl again and flaunt every item of uniform ruling going - and with no repercussions too!!??

80sChav

No thanks... it's called growing up!

[George 1978]

I have always thought to myself, from a school uniform perspective, "how would I have dressed had I been born female?" Would I have worn trousers or a skirt? (if such options for girls were available - they didn't seem to be at comprehensive school level in the 1980s) Socks or tights? Knee-length or ankle-length socks? Etc. It made me wonder that despite having to wear a uniform, that girls decided how to dress when it came to uniform.

I suppose it boils down to whether in later life, they would be a Miss or a Ms - feminine or feminist?

Males usually stick with the tie/trousers/jacket connection many decades after they have left school, although in recent times, the last time I wore a tie in public was to vote at my Polling Station on a local election day as soon as the station opened at 7.00 am, and one polling clerk asked meL "are you doing this on your way to work?" No doubt that had I worn t-shirt and jeans, I wouldn't have been asked that.