School Dress Reform

Manawatu Times, Volume 63, Issue 41, 18 February 1938, Page 11

School Dress Reform

COLODItS ARE NOW “IN.” Although she almost certainly would be the last person to admit it, the Bchoolgirl of to-day is a lucky young miss, states an Australian writer. And her good fortune is not limited to an ever-increasing scope of the school curricula to include all sorts of enthralling subjects to sugar the pill of those inevitable three “R’s.” Her emancipation has extended, too, to the matter of dress, which, since the ichool-girl in mother to the woman, is undeniably a tremendous moment. For the doath knell of the old school uniform, ths.t had only its potential longevity and its infallibility as a destroyer of personal vanity, to recommend it, han, although the notion that It is desirable for the schoolgirl to take an interest and a pride in her appearance, would doubtless have been poohpoohed by the martinets of an earlier generation us “putting silly notions into her head,” tho modern mistress and the modern mother realise that the seeds of clothes consciousness cannot be sown too early in life. The schoolgirl who has; a smart kit that becomes] her is more likely to dress well when she leaves school than the child who must submit to dowdy, unflattering dress, and that the knowledge that one “looks nice” speeds up .the development of the feminine ego. Some Drastic Changes. In the last few years, school uniforms have been drastically and ruthlessly changed. The swing over from the navy blue, once as inevitable as the examinations a t the end of the year, to colours that would once have been considered frivolous and unseemly for any serious-minded school to adopt, has been the moist conspicuous change in schoolgirl fashions. It has taken principals and parents a long time to realise that navy is not the easiest of colours to wear, and that schoolgirls rarely have the clear complexion which that uncompromising colour demands, but since realisation has come to them —and since the modern age of selfadvertisement has made it desirable for each school to have acted resolutely, and to-day there are only two or three schools that cling to the traditional navy and white. And in their conservatism, incidentally, they have achieved the same individuality of uniform their rivals have been seeking Chocks and Stripes. Another important change in the matter of uniforms has been the growing tendency to discard those “end on ends” materials which most of the schools favoured for the hot weather months, for crease-resisting ginghams that have the advantage of being cheaper, of keeping their freshness longer than the silks, and of being much more easily laundered. Nowadays many of the schools have checked, or striped cottons for their summejr uniforms, usually with contrast collars and cuffs—light blue or navy, green, tan, dark brown or white. Sometimes these cottons are specially dyed to the school’s order—as, incidentally, are most of the half worsted cannels that are the uniform choice for the winter. Often the felt or straw hats which tli schoolgirl)* wear with their uniforms must be specially dyed also, as must the stockings: and gloves that complete their smart kits. Black stockings are definitely demode these days and, indeed, almost the only item that has treen retained in the school uniform is the white tailared blouse, with its Eton or shirt collar. And here, too, some of the schools have broken with tradition, substituting light blue or fawn for the white.