Torch - Spring 2018

Traditions

The Evolution of the Uniform By Naomi Buck, Class of 1990

From left: Students wearing Havergal’s first uniform in 1908; the bloomers of 1912; the tunic in 1925.

M any Old girls, including myself, will recall the urge they felt to personalize the look of their Havergal uniforms. Back in my day, the tunic belt was dropped to the hips and the tunic hiked up, sometimes even exposing a glimpse of non-regulation boxer shorts! We all wanted to show that, in addition to being Havergalians, we were ourselves. Next year, a little uniform relaunch will give students even greater latitude, while maintaining a sharp unified look. The blazer and golf shirts have been redesigned, the turtleneck is back by popular demand and black pants are being introduced at the Upper School. The result, as Green & Gold Shop Coordinator Barb Hill says, will be a more polished look that also offers versatility. The new options will be phased in over two years. As their name suggests, uniforms are designed to forge unity and a sense of belonging, while liberating students from the pressures and constraints of fashion. But they’re not set in stone. Over the years, Havergal’s uniform has been constantly evolving, responding to changing values and social norms, as well as the availability of fabrics and dyes.

In fact, when Havergal opened its doors in September of 1894, the students—all 38 of them—didn’t even have a uniform. Until 1900, the requirement was simply that the girls wear long dark skirts and a high-collared white or cream blouse. The preferred shoe, as shown in the 1898 Ludemus , was a heeled lace-up boot, made by H and C Blachford of Yonge Street, where they sold for $3.50. It wasn’t until the early 1900s that the first uniform was introduced. Known as a “Peter Thompson” suit, after the American naval tailor credited with its design, it consisted of a white cotton middy, blue woolen bloomers and black woolen stockings. The bloomers had little in common with their contemporary iteration, the modesty shorts that are still required under the tunic or kilt; the bloomers of a century past had tiny waists, deep pockets and huge pleated legs that gathered around the knee. Named after Amelia Bloomer, a 19th-century American advocate of women’s rights, they were designed to give women greater range of movement, both physically and socially. In 1923, the bloomers were replaced by a tunic and it didn’t take the girls long to begin experimenting with it. A Ludemus article in 1931 titled “The Trials of a Tunic Belt” explains the belt’s proper

34  HAVERGAL COLLEGE