Fashions when you were at school

Same message with kneeling on a bench to check your skirt wasn’t too short. The deputy head used to watch us going down the corridor and woe betide you if you rolled your skirt up again. Of course we just waited till we were round the corner.
Summer dresses were gathered waists with close fitting tops. They looked dreadful unless you were a size 10 and they were impossible to get in or out of for PE when you were really hot and sweaty in the summer. Blazers, regulation macs -fashionable to fasten the belt at the back.
Oh and the worst part of school? Anyone else have to use communal showers after PE?

Every item of uniform was specified in the regulations, as were all the rules defining how to wear said items. The only exception was brassieres. Therefore, the variety and splendour of bras on display in the PE changing room was a sight to behold!

Any deviation from our uniform was strictly punished by detentions at break and a letter to our parents.

Even socks had to be regulation and stockings somewhere around 20 denier.

Yes, we could roll down our skirt tops and bash our hats about, but my mother was fanatical about making our expensive uniforms last as long as possible.

My parents forbade mini-skirts, bell-bottom jeans or any jeans that had a fly front- decent women, we were told, wore slacks with a zip in the side seam or skirts - knee length.

Later they were to complain bitterly if they caught their daughters bra-less.

When I left home to study, I bought a pair of Levis 501 - I have never loved any article of clothing as much, and I certainly did not take them home for the summer holidays, or the mini-dress I wore with cream coloured tights with a floral pattern up the outer leg. Remember those?

Nanna8 we must be a similar age, your memories are just like mine. Tee hee.

The only difference is that we had to wear berets, which were detested - we used to back-comb our hair, lacquer it to death and then pancake the beret flat and use hairgrips to fasten it right at the back - invisible from the front!
If a prefect saw you it meant a detention— so much agonising tearing off and ungripping —— such innocent times!

Riggie
One of my daughters attended a school where there was no uniform in the sixth form. They weren’t allowed to wear jeans, but they could wear cords, which always seemed to be too long, and dragging on the ground, a pair of jeans would have looked much tidier.
My friends son in sixth form, could wear anything he liked, but it had to include a tie!

My dad was devastated when I failed my eleven plus. Reading some of your reminiscences, I think it was just as well, I think I would have really struggled with some of the rules and regulations.
The secondary modern I attended was reasonably easy going, we had good relationships with our teachers on the whole, yes, I had the slipper a few times, but it wasn’t undeserved.
Academically it wasn’t great, which I’m sure all of your grammar schools were, so it was probably worth it, my children all went to schools where uniform was very strict, but it didn’t include gloves or baggy knickers.

BigBertha1

Same skirt thing for us. We had a thing for baskets instead if school bags and Dr Scholls sandals in summer

Baskets were for cookery. But a certain style of tote bag was the thing once we got to sixth form and ditched the satchels. Scholl sandals were allowed which rather meant no one wanted to wear them!!

Had just moved into the sixth form with its own uniform when the new headteacher said we no longer had to wear uniform. Mum was not amused! We were not allowed to wear jeans, although I think cords were allowed and it wasn't denim per se as one of the "trendy" girls had a denim skirt. But there were lots of sessions debating what "jeans" were as coloured dennim was in fashion, so some people wore those (eg pink, plum, browns) and seemed to get away with it.

My senior school (girls’ grammar) was very hot on uniform, no breaches allowed. Even in the 6th form we had to wear hats and the dreaded summer boaters in the street.

A new headmistress when I was 12 or 13 had ‘modernised’ the uniform, but to us it was still ghastly brown, though perhaps a slightly less horrible shade than formerly - more chocolate than a cross between tan and dog poo.

We were almost speechless on being told that the new summer dresses - so very obviously ‘school’ - were nice enough to be worn out of school!
In her dreams!

When I was at school Polyveldt’s and Cornish Pasties were the shoes to be seen in with white ankle socks and a blanket coat ?

In winter we used to wear long underwear beneath our skirt, the fancier the better. It was a hidden statement ? We called them bloomers.

Yes no eating in the street, beret with tassel at all times, beetle crusher shoes in winter sandals in summer, white stockings with suspender belts, regulation length uniforms all from one authorized school outfitter, but we were allowed to knit our own navy gloves in 3 ply wool.

We did the skirt thing and had a 'girdle' which was a woven waist sash (tied like a tie) which helped cover it!

CalendarGirl we also had to kneel to have our skirts checked if they looked too short and there was a piece in the paper the other day about girls up in arms about their school doing it! Mine was a convent school and the nuns were particularly vigilant!

We also wore tan tights with white socks, luckily the school winter hat was dropped the year I started but the summer boater lasted a few more years, horrible itchy things and mine was too small!

I remember wearing neon coloured knickers that came down to my knees!!

I started to the Grammar school in 1956,all uniform to be bought from an extortionate expensive drapers (the wife of the owner taught French) at school.The uniform for thirds and fourths was hideous strange shaped neck on the gymslip and a square neck blouse,navy blue you always had to wear your blazer and beret when out,even when cycling the three miles from the bus stop. Black indoor and outdoor shoes,whit socks until you reached removes,then you could wear nylons.The senior mistress stood on the corner of the hall after assembly and if there was a problem with your uniform,without raising her eyes from your leg area she put a hand out and you had to wait until everyone had passed and she would point out the faults in your uniform.It was during the time of massive net underskirt and waspy belts your skirt on summer uniform could only be a certain width and the belt could only be two inches wide,No leaving school premises unless under dire emergency,no eating in school uniform.I don't know what the girls of today would make of it all.Having said that everyone .oozed very smart

I spent 12 years in schools run and taught by nuns. For one in 1000 that was kind and gentle there were 500 that were sour and arrogant, the other 499 were downright vicious, vindictive, petty people that delighted in humiliating the weak. They had the humiliation streak down to a fine art.
We always wore FULL uniform dress over the regulation blouse, no chance of fiddling with the length unless you had had a growth spurt. They would get all of us to walk in indian file along one of the inner quadrangles and check that every dress was just below the knee. If it was not, the woman would call out STOP, walk to the poor offending girl and she would rip the hem off. This happened every month.
Fortunately every girl would rally round the tearful one and commiserate ... I have to say I had no experience of any kind of bullying in all my years at school in Spain. Well, not from the girls, plenty from the saintly nuns!
Having said all this, I adored Mother Olivia, my piano teacher, and Mother Teresa would wake me up every night at 4 am for 3 months to give me medicine at a point when I was not well and needed regular medication.

Fifties fashions were so pretty. I loved the small waist and full skirt look, and it really suited me then. The small waist wouldn’t work on me now!

We wore white socks with our school uniform, even in the sixth form. ‘Nylons’ were for special occasions.

My granddaughter is in y7 and I carefully took her new school skirts up to the approved length - so of course she rolls them up ! Since these days girls are allowed to wear trouser to school I have no understanding as to why they even wear skirts - but nanny the black trousers are too narrow or too wide ?

At my comp we were allowed to wear what we liked over a white shirt/blouse with a tie or cravat in school colours as long as the colour was navy or grey. My mother rarely bought me clothes, I had one uniform only (a navy skirt and jumper). I ordered clothes from her catalogue behind her back and in 1978 wore a pair of the new straight cut jeans to school. I remember that most of my peers didn’t like them! But everyone was wearing them by the following year.

Yes we did the rolling the skirts over at the waist thing as our skirts were supposed to be no shorter than 4 inches above the knee, measured when you were kneeling down (the deputy head used to do spot checks from time to time)
There was also the feathercut hairstyle, that was basically a layered cut, done with a razor. I can remember one girl used to spray silver hairspray on her hair to make sort of highlights-looked quite effective if not done overboard on dark hair - mine was red, so never used it on mine!

''Anyone have little black flat pumps called "Whispies ?"

yes but ours were called boppers.

Remember witches britches...??? In the winter they were nice and warm. One pair I had was bright red with white lace around the hems of the legs...!!!

We had to wear stockings with a suspended belt. Tights were not allowed. Our MALE form teacher checked that we weren’t wearing tights by making us pull our dresses up so that he could see the suspender belts! I always liked to wear my skirts a bit longer because one of my legs was partially paralysed by polio’. My mum used to roll my waist band up so my skirts could be as short as my friends’ skirts. My older sister wore lots of net underskirts under her school dresses. They had to be dipped in a sugar solution to make them stiff and she was always plagued by wasps . She also backcombed her hair so that her school beret , in winter, and the white boater, in Summer, had to be pinned at the back of her head. They always looked like they’d been blown there and got stuck in the tumbleweed that was her hair . ?

When I left school and went off to college, I was sent off with a couple of sensible skirts, and some M&S jumpers.
I couldn’t believe that you could wear absolutely anything, lots of charity shop ensembles, velvet trousers, jeans, cheesecloth tops, I felt a right twit!
I had to save my small allowance, and the first thing I bought was a totally impractical, practically see through maxi dress, from the market.

Brings back memories, reading all these posts. I too was at a girl's grammar in London and endured a brown uniform but with red for the contrast.
Yes,, indoor and outdoor shoes, and a beret for winter to be worn at all times outside the school. In my 4th year there we had a 'poll' on a suitable summer hat and ended up with a rather nice and 'natty' straw boater.
I seem to remember wearing the same gymslip (skirts only from the 5th form up) for my entire time there (I left after GCE's), by, it did get mucky over a full week (never been the cleanest eater). Same games shorts/divided skirt too. They did actually turn into shorts by the end and lord knows how I managed to get them round my middle.
Uniform only from the one outfitter and definitely the correct distance from the floor when kneeling.
Beige knee socks and beige blouse. My, we were so colourful, just like a cage full of exotic parakeets. I expect we made the right noises though.

Fashion didn’t really exist when I was at school, 1944-1955. They were very strict about uniform in the girls’ grammar school that I attended. Woe betide anyone spotted away from school without a hat, or eating chips. “Bringing down school standards!”
Our mothers bought our ordinary clothes, and we weren’t that bothered about what we wore. It was only in the late 50s that I started taking more interest in styles and fashion, but I have never been very interested in clothes, preferring comfort over style. The fact that I never wore high heels and fancy shoes is probably why, at 81, I have never had a corn or bunion.