When I was at a girls' school (England) in the late '50s - early '60s, as well as a conventional knitted scarf and a conventional tie as part of our winter uniform, we also had "house ties". These were worn at inter-house sports events. They consisted of a length of a sort of tape about an inch and a half wide in the appropriate colour, loosely woven from a wool-like yarn. The ends were left raw and would fray into a fringe. They could be worn either as a necktie or a waist sash. I've no idea whether other schools, or boys' schools, had anything similar, but it's the only suggestion I can make for a "scarf" which could function as a trouser belt. I do know that, for much of the early 20th century, schoolboys commonly wore a belt of a more tightly woven fabric in coloured stripes, fastened with a clasp in the form of a snake (see http://www.darcyclothing.com/shop/elasticated-snake-belts-br750.html for a modern version). I remember them from my childhood, I also remember my father (b. 1907) saying that he wore one as a boy. So maybe these evolved from the "scarf" mentioned in 1907?
Kate Bunting Retired librarian & 17th century reenactor _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list h-costume@mail.indra.com http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
