Le vêtement à l’école: un projet de recherche au Musée National de l’Éducation

“Dressed for School” is an original interdisciplinary research project developed by Heriot-Watt University in partnership with the French National Museum of Education (Munae, Rouen). Investigating the interactions between children and their clothing in the school environment from the beginning of the 19th century onwards in Europe, this research in progress aims to investigate the role of clothing in a settled community, for a child, who is considered as a little person, educated as a future adult and acts as a being as well as a becoming. This project will identify how fashion shapes the identities in the School environment and supports the interactions between peers and with the adults in an educational context. A research into European museums’ collections will identify how this field of children’s material culture and School heritage would benefit from a more strategic collection and guided interpretation to support the understanding of an unknown aspect of the history and sociology of education. Finally, analysing the impact of the fashion industry and the way our society represents children at school, this project investigates the educational potential of clothing, supporting children’s physiological development as well as their socialisation.

Key words : children’s clothing, childhood studies, fashion anthropology, School heritage.