What kind of school uniform was there in the USSR? School uniform Soviet school uniform.

School uniforms are starting to come back. Many parents support this initiative of education officials, believing that the general style of clothing will not distract from the most important thing - learning the material. After all, very often, instead of listening carefully to the teacher, classmates look at each other’s outfits and discuss them. In addition, parents of students remember their own youth, when they all wore school uniforms.

Reasons for introduction

In the post-war period, the uniform style was introduced in all departments. Employees had to strictly adhere to the legally prescribed dress code, as they now say. School life was no exception. In educational institutions, wearing a school uniform became mandatory in 1948, when the first, most strict and ascetic version was approved. The education of a true patriot, distinguished by high moral principles, had to begin from childhood. The school uniform from the times of the USSR not only taught the child to be neat and disciplined him, but also indicated the absence of class differences. All children were equal to each other. In any case, during classes it was impossible to demonstrate to classmates some unusual thing that his parents had difficulty obtaining for their child.

School uniform worn by girls

The USSR school uniform for girls, introduced in 1948, very much resembled the style of clothing that students of pre-revolutionary girls' gymnasiums had to follow. It consisted of a neat brown dress made of wool and an apron. A black apron was intended for everyday wear, which could be replaced with a white one.

To freshen up the appearance a little, white cuffs were sewn onto the sleeves, and a white collar was also used. Their presence was mandatory both on a holiday and on an ordinary weekday.

The dress was quite long, below the knee. Any experiments with the elements of the dress, its length and style were prohibited. The school administration usually severely punished fashionistas who dared to break generally accepted rules.

School uniform worn by boys

The school uniform for boys in the USSR had several mandatory elements:

1. Cap decorated with a cockade.

2. Tunic.

3. Belt with a shiny massive buckle.

The tunic and trousers were made of gray woolen fabric. Such products were not very comfortable to wear, as they quickly lost their shape. And after not very careful washing or unsuccessful drying, they could significantly increase in size.

Boys were also not allowed to experiment with their appearance. The USSR school uniform was mandatory for all students without exception.

General appearance

The appearance of schoolchildren had to meet certain conditions. It was not enough just to wear a school uniform; the student always had to look neat.

It was allowed to appear at school only in clean and well-ironed clothes. Cuffs and an overlay collar, which are a mandatory attribute of the uniform for girls, must always be clean. Coming to school with dirty or poorly ironed cuffs could result in great shame. Shoes also had to be kept clean, regardless of the time of year and the distance of the house from the educational institution.

Schoolchildren's hairstyle

The school uniform of the USSR, the severity and minimalism manifested in it, also dictated a certain type of hairstyle for schoolchildren. There could be no liberties either.

Short hair was mandatory for boys. Girls could braid their hair using black or brown bows. On a holiday, you could tie a white bow. Other colors were banned, so they were not easy to find in Soviet stores. Braids with bows were mandatory for girls; any other hairstyle was out of the question.

Changing shape

In 1960, the school uniform of the USSR began to change; photographs from different periods of the existence of the Soviet Union perfectly demonstrate these transformations. The changes taking place in all spheres of people's lives at this time could not but affect the clothes of students.

The main transformations were manifested in the school uniform for boys. Inexpressive gray clothes were replaced by brighter models made of blue wool blend material. It held its shape better and did not stretch out after washing. The cut of the jacket resembled a denim jacket, which was very popular at that time in the West. Emblems were sewn on the sleeves, which were pictures with images of an open textbook and the rising sun. The color of these stripes was blue or red.

The USSR school uniform worn by girls did not undergo any special changes. It was only allowed to shorten the dress a little - its length became just above the knees.

Uniform for high school students

The real breakthrough of that time was the introduction of uniforms for high school students at the beginning of 1980. Boys began to wear pantsuits instead of separate trousers and jackets. The color of the uniform also remained blue. Sometimes it was even possible to remove the emblems, since over time the paint on them wore off and they looked sloppy.

The long-awaited transformation of school uniforms also affected girls. From first to seventh grade they still wore their usual dresses with aprons. But from the eighth grade it was possible to wear a three-piece suit made of thick blue material. It included a neat A-line skirt with pleats at the front, a vest and a jacket. The girl herself could choose a blouse for her costume, which provided a field for a huge number of experiments. The skirt could be worn with either a vest or a jacket. In cold weather, the entire suit was worn at once.

Another innovation was the introduction in 1988 of trousers for schoolgirls living in the city. They could be worn in the winter season.

Pioneer badges

The school uniform of the USSR was necessarily supplemented with badges, which were worn by students according to their age and affiliation with a particular organization.

Children studying in the lower grades were Octobrists and wore an Octobrist badge, which represented the face of little Volodya Ulyanov inside a red star. Older schoolchildren, middle school students, wore a pioneer badge. It was also made in the shape of a star, but it had an image of V.I. Lenin. If a pioneer particularly distinguished himself in social work and showed himself to be an active person, he was awarded a special badge. Instead of the inscription “Always Ready,” it bore the inscription “For Active Work,” and the insignia itself was slightly larger than the standard one. The school uniform worn by the pioneers was supplemented

High school students were required to wear This was a small symbol that looked like a red flag decorated with a portrait of V.I. Lenin.

Recently, more and more schoolchildren are trying to find out where to buy USSR school uniforms that would have the exact look of clothing of that time. High school students want, for example, to wear it to the last bell. This tradition has become widespread in many schools. In this case, the option with a white festive apron is usually used. Finding the shape is not that difficult. It can be seen both in specialized stores and for sale on various online resources, where a considerable number of models of various sizes are presented.

The Soviet school uniform is, in fact, an analogue of the gymnasium uniform of Tsarist Russia. It also consisted of a dress and an apron, white on holidays and black on weekdays. For elementary school, the color of the dress was brown, for middle school students - blue and green for high school girls. At balls, older girls appeared in white dresses.
In 1920, it was customary for all high school girls to wear a brown dress and apron. Only rich people could afford such a uniform, so wearing this uniform was considered a bourgeois relic. Even the contemptuous nickname “high school student” appeared.

The unified Soviet school uniform in our country was introduced during the Stalin era. The USSR school uniform for boys was gray and consisted of trousers and a shirt, similar to a soldier's tunic. This was complemented by a wide belt with a massive buckle and a cap with a cockade.

The USSR school uniform for girls continued to consist of a brown dress and an apron. The dress was brown, perhaps because this color suits a business environment, helps to concentrate, and does not distract attention from study.

During the era of Stalin, strict morals reigned in our country. This also applied to school life. Even small experiments with the style or length of the dress were strictly punished by the school administration. In addition, wearing braids with bows was mandatory for girls. No haircuts were allowed.

In the 1960s, the Soviet school uniform for boys changed.

First-graders boys went to school on September 1, 1962 in a gray wool blend suit - trousers and a single-breasted jacket with three black plastic buttons

And in the seventies there were changes again

Now for primary schoolchildren it began to consist of a jacket and trousers in dark blue. The trousers became narrower, and the jacket resembled a modern denim jacket in its style. The buttons were metal and white. They were made of aluminum. On the sleeve of the jacket was sewn a soft plastic emblem with a drawing of an open textbook and a rising sun.

And in (or in) Ukraine, school uniforms for boys were brown

In the early 1980s, uniforms for high school students were introduced. (This uniform began to be worn in the eighth grade). Girls from first to seventh grade wore a brown dress, as in the previous period. Only it was not much higher than the knees.
For boys, trousers and a jacket were replaced with a trouser suit. The color of the fabric was still blue. The emblem on the sleeve was also blue.

Very often the emblem was cut off because it did not look very aesthetically pleasing, especially after some time - the paint on the plastic began to wear off.

Soviet school uniforms for high school students were of fairly good quality and inexpensive. Men willingly bought it as clothing for work. Therefore, the USSR school uniform for high school students fell into the category of shortage in those days.

For girls, a blue three-piece suit was introduced in 1984, consisting of an A-line skirt with pleats at the front, a jacket with patch pockets and a vest. The skirt could be worn with either a jacket or a vest, or the whole suit at once. In 1988, the wearing of blue trousers in winter was allowed for Leningrad, regions of Siberia and the Far North. Also, girls could wear a pioneer uniform, which consisted of a dark blue skirt, a white blouse with short or long sleeves and a pioneer tie.

A mandatory addition to the school uniform, depending on the age of the student, was the October (in primary school), Pioneer (in middle school) or Komsomol (in high school) badges. Pioneers were also required to wear a pioneer tie.

In addition to the regular pioneer badge, there was a special option for pioneers actively involved in social work. It was a little larger than usual and had the inscription “For active work” on it. And the senior pioneer badge, which was a regular pioneer badge against the background of a red banner.

See also other posts in the series :

School uniforms appeared much earlier than we can imagine, however, many of us are familiar only with the later version of the uniform of Soviet schoolchildren or are unfamiliar with it at all. This post will introduce us to the unknown to us school uniforms of ancient times, Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union.

Prototypes of school uniforms appeared long before this phenomenon overtook Russia. In the schools of scribes in the cities of Mesopotamia, in the first Pythagorean school in Greece, in the schools of Ancient India, students had to appear for classes in special clothes, different from everyday ones.

Sumerian school of scribes (Mezhdurechye, III millennium BC).

Students of the Pythagorean school.

Uniforms for European schoolchildren first appeared in 1522 in England. At Christ's Hospital, a costume was introduced for students: a dark blue jacket with tails to the ankle, a vest, a leather belt and trousers just below the knees. The form has remained approximately in this form to this day, the only difference is that these days the students of Christ’s Hospital are no longer orphans, but the future economic and cultural elite of Great Britain.

The first English school uniform for Christ's Hospital.

In Rus', from the moment the first mentions of organized education appeared, there was no talk of any form at all. The first evidence of the appearance of a school uniform dates back to 1834. Then Nicholas I issued a decree approving a separate type of civilian uniform. These included gymnasium and student uniforms.

A sample of a school uniform approved by Nicholas I.

A sample of a school uniform approved by Nicholas I.

The uniform was worn anywhere and everywhere: at school, on the street, during holidays. She was a source of pride and distinguished schoolchildren from other teenagers. The uniform was of a military style: invariably caps, tunics and overcoats, which differed only in color, piping, buttons and emblems.

The first girls' school uniform appeared in 1764 at the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens, founded by Empress Catherine II.

Graduate of the Smolny Institute of Noble Maidens.

Students of the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens.

Over the next hundred years, the Russian Empire was filled with all sorts of schools and gymnasiums for girls, but each educational institution sought to distinguish its students and introduced its own uniform.

High school girls in Russia.

After the revolution of 1917, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee decided that all the attributes of education in pre-revolutionary Russia were a relic of the bourgeois past, introduced the decree “On a Unified Labor School” and abolished the division of schools into colleges and gymnasiums. Along with the gradation of schools, the bourgeois school uniform also became a thing of the past, and since the authorities did not have the money to sew a new one for all state educational institutions, parents began to dress their children themselves - whatever they wanted.

School graduates in 1917.

Students after the 1917 revolution.

Since 1949, seven-year education has become compulsory, and with this a common school uniform has appeared for all. The boys wore gray-blue tunics with a patent black belt, trousers in the color of the tunics and caps. The girls dressed in dark brown dresses and aprons: black on ordinary days, white on holidays. Braids became mandatory, and bows had to be chosen to match the color of the apron.

School in the 1950s.

Schoolgirl in 1956.

Schoolchildren of the 1950s.

Dress school uniform from the 1950s.

Schoolchildren of the 1950s through the lens of French scientist Jacques Dupaquier.

Schoolchildren of the 1950s.

Due to demilitarization in 1962, tunics for boys gave way to jackets. But for girls, practically nothing has changed.

It is quite possible that some people did not like the general demilitarized uniform.

Gray wool blend school suit.

Pioneer uniform from the 1970s

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the general school uniform sank into oblivion. Since 1992, schools have been free to introduce uniforms for their students. All that is required for this is to fix the dress code provision in the local regulatory act of the educational institution.

School uniform: past and present

The debate about school uniforms has not subsided for many years: is it necessary, and if so, what kind? If everything is more or less clear with the uniform for boys, it was customary at all times to dress them up in trousers and a jacket, then the uniform for girls is the subject of the most furious debate. When did school uniforms appear in the first place, what style of dress, and what color did our great-grandmothers wear?

The first school uniform in Russia was introduced for gymnasium girls at the end of the 19th century and consisted of a brown dress and an apron. A black apron was intended for ordinary days, and a white apron for special occasions. At the same time, in private educational institutions, the color of the uniform sometimes depended on the age of the students. Dresses for babies and school dresses for high school girls could also differ in style.

The gymnasium uniform served as the prototype of the Soviet school uniform: an apron and dress, which those who had the opportunity to study during the Soviet Union remember very well. If you want to remember Soviet times, visit our website: here you will find several options for school dresses and aprons that combine modern fashion and the Soviet style of school clothes.

During perestroika, school uniforms were either abolished or reintroduced. Interesting fact: until the end of the 20th century, only schoolgirls in Siberia, the Northern regions and Leningrad were allowed to wear trousers, and even then only in winter. For all other students there was the following school uniform: a dress or skirt and a jacket or jacket.

School uniform today

Nowadays, experiments with school uniforms do not stop. Today it has lost its disciplinary role and only emphasizes the image of a particular educational institution. There are many options for new fashionable and stylish school clothes, but you can buy a school dress with an apron - a traditional Soviet uniform. To do this, simply visit our online store and select the desired model.

School uniform requirements

Whatever the school uniform, dresses, skirts, or trousers, jackets and blazers must meet the basic requirements for children's clothing:

It is sewn from natural materials - wool and cotton, which are highly breathable and absorb moisture. Synthetic fabrics are not allowed as they interfere with normal heat exchange and can cause the child to become hypothermic or overheated. All fabrics used should be pleasant to the touch and not cause irritation.

School clothes are expected to be wrinkle-resistant, easy to wash and easy to iron. You can buy uniforms for elementary and middle school students, as well as school dresses for high school girls that meet all requirements in our online store. Use the convenient catalog to order the desired model. We offer both modern models and traditional school uniforms, aprons and dresses at affordable prices.

Strict requirements are imposed on the quality of cut and sewing: all seams must be carefully processed, buttons must be firmly sewn, zippers and buttons must be easy to unfasten and fasten securely.

Any school uniform: apron and dress, skirt and jacket, trousers and jacket is sewn quite spacious. This makes it possible, if necessary, to wear an additional light sweater underneath.

In our store you can buy a school dress with an apron or a skirt with a jacket. The most important thing is that the girl likes the purchase, otherwise the child will feel uncomfortable even in the best shape.

Main trends in school fashion

It is known that the sense of style and concepts of beauty are formed in childhood, so the uniform should not only be comfortable, but also correspond to the main fashion trends. This applies to both school dresses for high school girls and outfits for little ones who have crossed the threshold of school for the first time. Our store offers on its website fashionable and comfortable dresses for girls of all ages at affordable prices.

Toddlers and middle schoolers will love school dresses for girls that are trimmed with lace or have ruffled trim at the hem. School dresses with contrasting details are also in fashion, and for romantic young ladies, designers have developed models of comfortable dresses with ruffles. You can purchase all this in our online store, you can also buy a school dress with an apron that has a modern design and original decoration

But the main element in school fashion was the sundress, which replaced the traditional apron. Sundresses are made of wool and are black or dark blue. And in order to add some “zest” to the clothes, school sundresses are decorated with some bright original detail.

You can choose a stylish blouse for your sundress. At the peak of popularity, shirt cut involves a combination of strict men's fashion with details inherent in women's clothing: lace inserts, decorative collars, etc. Girls will also like blouses with trim in the form of voluminous bows, frills, and wide, fluffy collars.

Not only school dresses for girls are in fashion, but also jackets and cardigans: our store offers strict models with a straight silhouette in the spirit of old English private schools, and flirty fitted jackets for little beauties with puffed sleeves and an original clasp.

Students of different ages also fell in love with skirts: large checks, lace trims, lush folds and pleating are in fashion. From adult fashion, girls have adopted tulip skirts, which look great on their figures.

School uniform: styles and opinions

Opinions about school uniforms are ambiguous: some believe that they are not needed at all, others propose returning Soviet school uniforms, and others prefer modern models. When did school uniforms appear and what did they represent?

From the history of school uniforms

Uniforms for boys in Russia appeared in the 30s of the 19th century, and for girls almost 60 years later. In most gymnasiums, it consisted of a brown dress and an apron: black for every day and white for special occasions. The gymnasium uniform became the prototype for the Soviet school uniform, which was introduced in the mid-20th century.

Over the past time, the school uniform for boys has changed several times, but brown dresses and aprons have remained unchanged. And to this day, graduates traditionally put on the Soviet school uniform for the last bell: after all, it has now turned into a symbol of farewell to childhood and school.

We invite everyone who wants to purchase a Soviet school uniform, which successfully combines modern trends and the style of those years, to visit our online store.

During perestroika, school uniforms were either abolished or introduced, but now they have lost their former meaning and most often simply emphasize the status of a particular educational institution. We invite you to the website of our store: here you will find USSR school uniforms, which have recently gained more and more fans, and modern models.

Choosing a school uniform

Proponents of school uniforms believe that they equalize all students, regardless of their social status, and help parents decide what to wear to school. There is also an opinion that uniform disciplines the child.

Opponents argue that school uniforms impede children's self-expression and the development of their individuality, and they worry that poor families may find school uniforms unaffordable.

If you are still going to buy a school uniform for your child, our online store is waiting for you: here you will find any models: traditional dresses and aprons or modern sundresses with blouses of all sizes and styles. It may be easier for you to choose the right option if you know a few simple rules for choosing a form:

Buy only clothes made from natural fabrics, pay attention to the quality of the material of the top and lining. Our store is ready to offer you USSR school uniforms or modern clothes for school of the highest quality at affordable prices.

When purchasing, be sure to measure the uniform for your child and take into account his opinion: the suit should not restrict movement and be spacious enough to wear a light turtleneck or sweater underneath. Our online store offers school uniforms of all sizes on its website.

When choosing a uniform, give preference to models made of wrinkle-resistant materials that are easy to wash and quickly iron. It is desirable that the uniform is machine washable. From us you can buy smart school uniforms for the last call, and practical, low-maintenance casual suits for boys and girls.

Be sure to check the quality of the seams, see if the pockets are firmly sewn, how well the buttons and snaps hold. The zippers should be easy to close and not stick, the buttons should be fastened quickly and not require too much effort. Invite your child to fasten himself and see how easily he copes with the task.

Experienced managers of our store will help you choose both a school uniform for the last call and clothes for daily activities. We offer stylish, modern designs and traditional brown dresses with aprons.

Fashion trends in school uniforms

The school uniform of the USSR is still popular, in which many secondary schools dress their students. Now the scratchy woolen fabrics have been replaced by a more pleasant-to-touch lavsan, modern details have been added, but the style remains the same.

For fans of modern trends in school uniforms, our online store is pleased to offer sundresses made in dark blue or black colors, which are at the peak of popularity today. You will also find blouses for girls of all ages. The shirt style is very common. Many girls also like lush trims in the form of frills, ruffles, and frills.

Little fashionistas can go to school in dresses or suits consisting of a skirt and jacket. We are pleased to offer any styles of school jackets for girls: strict models in the spirit of old schools in England, and flirty fitted models for romantic ladies.

For boys, everything is much simpler: strict classic suits are still popular, but school fashion also allows for sweaters or vests made in subdued colors.

We invite schoolchildren and their parents to our store: there is an order desk and a help desk for you. It is possible to order delivery of goods to your home. Read more about our range and the list of our services on the online store website.