How Russian school uniforms evolved from the 19th century to nowadays (PHOTOS)

Gymnasium students and noble maidens

School uniforms were introduced in Russia as early as the late 18th - early 19th century: they were mandatory both in orphanage schools and in gymnasiums for the children of nobility, as well as in female educational institutions. However, there was no single standard.

The official starting point is considered to be 1834, when Emperor Nicholas I approved a statute on civil uniforms, which included student attire.
For boys, it resembled a military uniform: a peaked cap, a tunic (‘gimnasterka’), an overcoat, and a satchel. The color and trim varied depending on the educational institution.
The styles changed throughout the 19th century, with the tunics most often being dark green or blue.

Schoolgirls, meanwhile, wore dark dresses with high collars, pinafores, and capes – white for formal occasions and black for everyday wear.

The Soviet era

After the 1917 Revolution, the mandatory school uniform was abolished, and education became universally accessible and free. At the same time, the blue-and-white Pioneer uniform appeared, and many schoolchildren wore it to class.

A unified school uniform was first introduced in the USSR in the late 1940s.

Boys were supposed to wear grey tunics with a stand-up collar and a peaked cap with a cockade, while girls wore brown dresses with a pinafore (white for special occasions and black for weekdays), which became a true classic of the Soviet school system.

In 1962, boys were switched to grey wool suits, and the peaked cap was replaced by a beret. The heavy belts were also done away with. The girls' uniform remained practically unchanged.

In the mid-1970s, the uniform was changed again: boys now wore blue suits with fashionable flared trousers and an emblem on the sleeve.

High school girls during the perestroika era could wear a blue suit with a skirt.

With the collapse of the USSR, the mandatory uniform was once again abolished. Children wore anything to school: some in jeans, some in sweatpants, some in trendy dresses and leggings.

School dress code

By the early 2000s, schools began discussing the reintroduction of a school uniform, which was seen as necessary for both discipline and maintaining social equality.
In 2013, schools were granted the right to independently set requirements for students' clothing.

And although there is no single uniform across all schools, educational institutions today establish a certain dress code. For example, a school might require children to wear only blue or only grey suits.