1950s and 60s leisure wear. Was school uniform worn socially?

I have a photo of my husband when he was about 10/11 - he's at his aunt's wedding and he's in school uniform. It was seen as 'smart'. Also there wasn't money to buy extra clothes when he had a perfectly good outfit already.

No, he said it was a whole morning of detention for not wearing full uniform the day before! His tie hadn’t been knotted properly! Harsh.
Still the same here now. A boy got put in isolation for taking his tie off on the way home.
I would have put that teacher in isolation for over-reaction and to think about what is really important.

No self respecting fashion conscious Sixties teenager in with the In Crowd would be seen dead in school uniform outside of school.

We had velour hats which had to be sent off to be 're-blocked' once a year in the summer break.
What a faff!

When I went to the grammar school, it had its own uniform, including a wretched beret, which you were meant to wear until you got home. It would have been expensive to buy , only from a particular shop, and the rule was definitely the first thing I did when I got home was to take it off and hang it up proprerly, and was so glad to be able to get into trousers and t shirt or jumper. I was very much a tomboy and loved being outside and in particular at my granny's farm feeding animals and climbing trees etc, so absolutly not worn out of school

I remember going to church in early 70s a boy who had recently started at our school was there wearing his uniform, I remember thinking it looked strange as we normally wore Sunday best clothes, My friend used to go to local grammar school and was from a poor family but everyone in the extended family bought her something from her uniform list. I am sure remember going to town on the weekend in the late 60s seeing some older children, boys mainly, in the grammar school Blazers.

My brothers wore school uniform for formal occasions. They didn’t have other smart clothes.
We all took our uniform off and hung it up as soon as we got home.

As girls, no we didn’t. Always wore pretty dresses, made by my Mother, sometimes shorts or cotton trousers (mine were made from black out blinds!) for play. I do have family photos of young boys, cousins uncles in school uniform on the beach in the 50’s.
My brother (born 1970’s) never wore uniform socially, but this was of course later.

My uniform came straight off once I got home. Wore blouses, trousers and cardigans or jumpers. Depending on the weather. Dresses and skirts if I went to the youth club. Mini skirts were the fashion. The 1960s were the best time to be a teenager! Great times.

No never,that's a bit weird. I do agree about your dadthough as mine was the same. In 90's he used to come up and do my garden....in his shirt and tie! I had thebest dressed gardener on the planet!😅 One very hot day I came home from work abd he had his shorts on no tie but ashort sleeved shirt. I could not stop laughing at his shorts! Never even knew he owned a pair.....it was his army shorts from when he was in India/Burma in WW2!!!! 🤣. He got a nice new pair as a present from us.....

Mojack26

No never,that's a bit weird. I do agree about your dadthough as mine was the same. In 90's he used to come up and do my garden....in his shirt and tie! I had thebest dressed gardener on the planet!😅 One very hot day I came home from work abd he had his shorts on no tie but ashort sleeved shirt. I could not stop laughing at his shorts! Never even knew he owned a pair.....it was his army shorts from when he was in India/Burma in WW2!!!! 🤣. He got a nice new pair as a present from us.....

I remember holidays in Blackpool with my dad in trousers rolled up, a shirt with the sleeves rolled up, his jacket hanging over the back of his deckchair, at least he wasn’t wearing a tie. My mum would be wearing a beautiful summer dress with a nice cardigan and a summer hat, full make up and lippy on.

Formal occasions, 1950s we used to go to church regularly in those days, I most of my friends were in the Choir, my aunt was choir mistress.

Thank you for your interesting responses.

That’s one way of avoiding wearing school uniform David49, become a chorister.

62Granny

I remember going to church in early 70s a boy who had recently started at our school was there wearing his uniform, I remember thinking it looked strange as we normally wore Sunday best clothes, My friend used to go to local grammar school and was from a poor family but everyone in the extended family bought her something from her uniform list. I am sure remember going to town on the weekend in the late 60s seeing some older children, boys mainly, in the grammar school Blazers.

Boys at our Grammar school went to school on Saturday mornings.
The girls at the High school didn't have Saturday morning school 🙂

My brothers were choristers, David49

Like others, my only coat was my navy gaberdine school coat - I envied friends who had coloured anoraks. So school coat was always worn if I needed to be smart.

But I did get a lovely white fun fur coat for Christmas when I was about 13. It was secondhand - someone had come into the garage where my mum did the books and left it in payment for petrol. She never came back for it and my mum got it for the price of the petrol.

My school dresses were homemade - our uniform had to be bought from John Lewis which was a really expensive shop back in the day. But being John Lewis they also sold the patterns and the fabric for making them at home. Home knitted sweaters too. It was a very middle class school though, and I didn’t like being the one in home-made clothes.

I’m sure I never wore my school uniform out of school though - like others I changed as soon as I came home because I would only have had one of everything (except white shirts).

(I remember my cousin telling me once that she never saw her dad‘s legs - he was always in a suit, or at least a jacket and trousers and never wore shorts. She only ever saw him fully clothed.)

School uniform might be worn out of school in lieu of a smart suit for weddings/christening/funerals, for Sunday if church school choir, for first communion if sponsored by the school.

I had to wear my mother’s wedding coat, dyed navy? to school on my first days at grammar school. I don’t think anyone else did. I was so pleased when I was given a gabardine Mac.

I agree Valels Boys in particular would wear their school blazer, complete with badge, at weekends and for smart occasions.
My DH appeared in plenty of photos in the 1950s like that.

I couldnt wait to get out of school uniform when I was in my teens. Ive always had a hatred of uniforms of any kind. All the girls in my class had nice clothes to wear outside school. When I whinged that I had to turn down invitations to parties because I had nothing to wear my fathee said "We buy you the clothes you need for school. If you want fancy clothers get a saturday job like your mates." I got a job in the chip shop. It paid about twice as much as my friends got working in a shop and was of course cash in hand. I soon had a very nice leasure wardrobe of "sticky our" skirts, paper nylon underskirts and ballet flats.

When I went for my first "proper" job interview (civil service) I wore my school uniform although without the tie, lisle stockings and black court shoes with a kitten heel. I was 15 at the time of the interview. It was quite common then to wear uniform for an office type job interview and to be accompanied by a parent. Employers for white collar jobs liked to see that sort of thing because it gave them some idea about your background. I was accompanied by my grandmother who was offered tea while I went in to be interviewed. All very civilised.

I was teased for years about turning up for my first job interview wearing my school uniform. I went straight from school and didn't think to go home and change.
I never wore uniform outside school, always changing when I got home. I didn't have many clothes and nothing very smart, most were home made by myself or my mother, whose creations I hated!

It was great to go to college and not have to wear a uniform. Liberating!!

FranP

School uniform might be worn out of school in lieu of a smart suit for weddings/christening/funerals, for Sunday if church school choir, for first communion if sponsored by the school.

As I said above , I only had one winter coat - and that was my school coat, and there is a photo of a family wedding where my sister and I are wearing our school hats as well. As good catholics we had to wear a hat in church (then) and the only hats we had were our school hats, so my sisters and I had to wear them. We were not wearing school uniform under our uniform outer wear.

My Mum used to pay into a Provident cheque every week for me when I was at school and every few months she would give it to me to spend on clothes. I think it was 15 shillings! Not all shops accepted them but there was one particular one that sold clothes I liked. I looked forward to getting it. Of course once I started work I was expected to buy my own clothes. Does anyone remember Provident cheques?