Information on School Outfits
Traditionally a school uniform is an outfit—a set of standardized clothes—worn primarily for an educational institution. They are common in primary and secondary schools in various countries (see list of countries below). When used, they form the basis of a school's dress code. These outfits have been largely subdued and professional.] Boys' uniforms often consist of dark short or long trousers and light-colored shirt, often with a tie. Girls' uniforms vary greatly between countries and schooling systems, but typically consist of adress or a blouse worn either with a skirt or culottes or under a pinafore; some countries allow girls to wear trousers. The use of a blazer or suit-like jacket for either gender is also fairly common, especially in countries with relatively cold weather. In some countries, school uniform is essentially standard in all schools using it, but in others, such as Great Britain, each school has an individual uniform, varying in colour and often making use of badges.
Most public schools in Canada do not require that students wear uniforms, but most include rules against indecent or offensive clothing. Many regions of Canada have publicly-funded Catholic schools, and many of these schools have uniforms. Prior to the integration of Newfoundland's public (government-funded) school system in the late 1990s, those public schools administered by the Catholic Church mandated strict, uniform-like dress codes (shirts and ties for boys, dresses or skirts for girls) at the elementary and junior high school levels, lifting most restrictions for high school students. In recent years, some schools have eliminated skirts and kilts, in favour of dress pants for girls, or replaced skirts with culottes or a garment called a skort which is a skirt that has an attached short on the inside for modesty. Also, bike shorts are sometimes worn under skirts. The tops are either dress shirts or golf shirts, and either sweaters or sweatshirts are worn. Grey or khaki dress pants are worn by both boys and girls.
Japan introduced school uniforms in the late 19th century. Today, school uniforms are almost universal in the public and private school systems. They are also used in some women's colleges. The Japanese word for uniform is seifuku (制服?).
In the majority of elementary schools, students are not required to wear a uniform to school. Where uniforms are required, many boys wear white shirts, short pants, and caps. Young boys often dress more formally in their class pictures than they do other days of the school year. Girls' uniforms might include a gray pleated skirt and white blouse. Occasionally the sailor outfit is used for girls. The uniform codes may vary by season to work with the environment and occasion. It is common for both boys and girls to wear brightly colored caps to prevent traffic accidents. Also, it is normal for uniforms to be worn outside of school areas. This is going out of fashion and many students are wearing casual dress.
The Japanese junior- and senior-high-school uniform traditionally consists of a military style uniform for boys and a sailor outfitfor girls. These uniforms are based on Meiji era formal military dress, themselves modeled on European-style naval uniforms. The sailor outfit replace the undivided hakama (andon bakama 行灯袴) designed by Utako Shimoda between 1920–30.[18]While this style of uniform is still in use, many schools have moved to more Western-pattern parochial school uniform styles. These uniforms consist of a white shirt, tie, blazer or sweater vest with school crest, and tailored trousers (often not of the same color as the blazer or sweater vest) for boys and a white blouse, tie, blazer with school crest, and tartan skirt for girls.
Much like the male uniform, the gakuran, the sailor outfit bears a similarity to various military styled naval uniforms. The uniform generally consists of a blouse attached with a sailor-style collar and a pleated skirt. There are seasonal variations for summer and winter: sleeve length and fabric are adjusted accordingly. A ribbon is tied in the front and laced through a loop attached to the blouse. Several variations on the ribbon include neckties, bolo ties, neckerchiefs, and bows. Common colors are navy blue, white, grey, light green and black.
Shoes, socks, and other accessories are sometimes included as part of the uniform. These socks are typically navy or white. The shoes are typically brown or black penny loafers. Although not part of the prescribed uniform, alternate forms of legwear (such as loose socks, knee-length stockings, or similar) are also commonly matched by more fashionable girls with their sailor outfits.
Regardless of what type of uniform any particular school assigns its students, all schools have a summer version of the uniform (usually consisting of just a white dress shirt and the uniform slacks for boys and a reduced-weight traditional uniform or blouse and tartan skirt with tie for girls) and a sports-activity uniform (a polyester track suit for year-round use and a t-shirt and short pants for summer activities). Depending on the discipline level of any particular school, students may often wear different seasonal and activity uniforms within the same classroom during the day. Individual students may attempt to subvert the system of uniforms by wearing their uniforms incorrectly or by adding prohibited elements such as large loose socks or badges. Girls may shorten their skirts; boys may wear trousers about the hips, omit ties, or keep their shirts unbuttoned.
Because school uniforms are a popular fetish item, second-hand sailor outfits and other items of school wear are brokered through underground establishments known as burusera, although changes to Japanese law have made such practices difficult. The pop groupOnyanko Club had a provocative song called "Don't Strip Off the Sailor Suit!"[19] Sailor outfits, along with other styles of school uniform, play an undeniably large role in otakuculture as evidenced by the large amount of anime, manga, and dōjinshi featuring characters in uniform, Sailor Moon being one of the most popular examples.
School uniforms were first introduced on a large scale during the reign of King Henry VIII.[41] The uniforms of the time were referred as "bluecoats", as they consisted of long trench-coat-style jackets dyed blue. Blue was the cheapest available dye and showed humility amongst all children. The first school to introduce this uniform was Christ's Hospital and it is the oldest uniform of any school.[42]
In 1870 the Elementary Education act introduced free primary education for all children. The popularity of uniforms increased and eventually most schools had a uniform.[41] During this period most uniforms reflected the trends of the age, with boys wearing short trousers and blazers until roughly the age of puberty and then long trousers from about 14 or 15. Girls mainly wore blouse, tunic dress and pinafore later progressing towards the beginning of the 20th century to gymslips.[41][43]
These uniforms continued until the 1950s when after the Butler reforms secondary education was made free and the school leaving age was raised to 15. These reforms encouraged schools to implement uniform codes which were similar to other schools. Distinct "summer" and "winter" uniforms were sometimes required, particularly for girls where dresses were mandated for summer and gymslip for winter.[41]
A gymslip is a sleeveless tunic with a pleated skirt most commonly seen as part of a girl's school uniform. The term gymslip primarily refers to athletic wear; otherwise the term pinafore dress (British English) or jumper dress (American English) is usually preferred.
The introduction of the gymslip as female athletic wear is credited to Martina Bergman-Österberg, the founder of a college for training female physical education teachers in Hampstead.[1] Gymslips were also worn by female gymnasts andathletes from the 1880s to the 1920s, as they were more mobile than traditional female attire, but still modest enough to deter the possibility of them becoming sexualised during their activity. Even in this modest attire, gymslips as athletic wear were still worn strictly out of public view. [2][3]
When not worn as athletic wear, gymslips or pinafore dresses are generally worn over a blouse and tie and replace askirt. Underneath a gymslip, a pair of white knee socks are more common than a pair of tights, matching regulationknickers may also be mandatory. A blazer may be worn over the top. First emerging in the 1900s, by the 1920s it had become compulsory in many private, convent and high schools, and thus became commonly worn by girls in Britain as part of their school uniform.[4]
Although now largely replaced by modern-style uniforms, gymslips are still synonymous with schoolgirls, leading to the slang term "gymslip mum" to describe a teenage pregnancy in Britain.[5] Well-known modern depictions of gymslips include the St. Trinians films, and less traditionally,schoolgirl uniform pornography, a use given more public recognition when in 1991 politician Clare Short condemned the fetish, saying "the Page 3 girl in a gymslip may be over 16, but the imagery is clearly intended to present schoolgirls as sexual objects"
According to the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP), the fraction of American public schools requiring some sort of uniform rose from 3% in 1997 to 21% in 2000.
Adolfo Santos, a political science professor at the University of Houston–Downtown, stated that many Hispanic communities in the United States choose uniforms because many immigrants originate from countries with schools requiring uniforms.[51]
In 1994, the Long Beach Unified School District, in Southern California, required school uniforms in all elementary and middle schools. This began a trend for uniforms in American elementary public schools, especially in urban school districts. President Clinton mentioned LBUSD's efforts in his 1996 State of the Union Address. The adoption of school or district-wide uniform policies (or, alternatively, "standardized dress codes" – which are not as rigid as school uniform requirements, but allow some leeway within set parameters) has been motivated by a need to counter "gang clothing" (or, in the alternative, the pressure for families to purchase upscale-label clothing to avoid their children being ignored by "fashion cliques"), as well as to improvemorale and school discipline.
By 2010, the percentage of U.S. public schools requiring uniforms had increased from 3% in 1996 to 18%