A Cultural History of School Uniform

By (author) Kate Stephenson

Publication date:

12 January 2021

Length of book:

232 pages

Publisher

University of Exeter Press

Dimensions:

234x156mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781905816538

What's a djibbah, how long has the old school tie been around and do yellow petticoats really repel vermin? How have social and educational changes affected the appearance of schoolchildren? This book will provide answers to these questions and more, in an engaging foray into 500 years of British school uniform history from the charity schools of the sixteenth century through the Victorian public schools to the present day.

In this cross-disciplinary work, Kate Stephenson presents the first comprehensive academic study of school uniform development in Britain as well as offering an analysis of the social and institutional contexts in which this development occurred. With recent debates around the cost, necessity and religious implications of school uniform and its (re)introduction and increasingly formal appearance in many schools, this book is a timely reminder that modern ideas associated with school uniform are the result of a long history of communicating (and disguising) identity.

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
Be Keen!
Introduction

1. The Charity Schools 1552–1900
Early School Clothing
Christ’s Hospital
Other Charity Schools
Traditional Appearances
Viewing Charity Children

2. The Public Schools 1800–1939
Sport and the Introduction of Uniform Clothing
Creation of the Public School Ethos
Uniform Design
Collective Identity
Emulation
Harrow—A Case Study

3. Public Schools for Girls 1850–1939
Early Girls’ Schools and the Feminine Ideal
Sportswear and Uniform
Day Uniforms
Formality and Conformity

4. Education for All 1860–1939
Middle-Class Secondary Education
Elementary Education for the Working Classes
Mixed Classes in Secondary Education

5. Fashion and Fancy Dress 1939–Present
Post-War
Dressing Up

Conclusion
Notes
Glossary
Bibliography
Index

The history of school uniforms in Britain is inextricable from its history of gender, class and identity, as this book ably demonstrates. The wide-reaching study fills a significant gap in scholarship by exploring the ways educational institutions dressed young people, and how developments in uniforms embodied and envisaged ideas about their personhood.