The Top 5 Fictional School Uniforms

Written by Captain Conroy

Naturally, along with at least some schools - there comes a school uniform. Most of us had them - I had them too. Nothing too complex and thankfully comfortable to wear - mine were mainly polos and jumpers. However, school uniforms don't have to be boring, they can look fantastic and maybe even be fun to wear. Some school uniforms could even be outright badass - of course this is something we see in Media and that's what we'll talk about here. This list is in no particular order - but in my eyes the best School uniforms are:

Number 5: Nevermore Academy Uniform

Where's Wednesday? LOL

Anyhow - to kickstart this list, we have the uniform of Nevermore Academy from the Wednesday Netflix series. These uniforms might not seem like anything special as lots of school uniforms especially in the U.K consist of a blazer with the school's logo, shirt, tie and trousers or skirt, however it's the colour and look of these uniforms that make it a standout - they're usually a blueish purplish sort of colour with broad black stripes on the blazer. While the skirts are made from the same material, the boys just wear plain black trousers but you do get stands outs like the fact that Wednesday's uniform is all black except for the shirt.

As you can see - even though it's the same design - just a black version of it. And even for wearing the same uniform students can still express their own individuality by the way they wear it by foregoing jumpers and using hoodies or not having any kind of jumper or knitwear underneath at all.

Like so - and some may look scruffy in comparison by not having their shirts tucked in or wearing their ties loose but of course you get those like Wednesday who always dress very neatly and always looks upright.

Naturally not every school even in fiction has to have a uniform but a school uniform can be a nice symbolisation that each student truly belongs, and it makes it all the more fitting here as Nevermore is specifically a school for outcasts and misfits and more than anything outcasts and misfits need a place they can belong, and the uniforms can help with that.

Group shot!

The Nevermore Academy uniform certainly is a classic as far as school uniforms go and it's one I certainly wouldn't mind wearing if I were to attend Nevermore anytime soon. It's a nice design and it's definitely one of those school uniforms where it can give each pupil a nice sense of belonging. Again it may not look super special as most school uniforms in the U.K have blazers with the school emblem on it but it's the way they're designed and the overall look of these uniforms which makes them a cut above the rest.

Number 4: Hexside School Uniform

Next up we take a look at The Owl House side of things and take a look at the uniform belonging to that of Hexside School of Magic And Demonics. Now this an interesting one as the design of these uniforms make them look like Medieval peasants rather than a kid going to school given it consists of a tunic and a cowl with a hood.

This uniform gathers its own individualities however as you have the legs and the sleeves which are the same colour as each other but Hexside has different Covens and depending which Coven you end up in depends on the colour of the selves and legs. The list is as follows:

• Red - Bard. Its power glyph is shaped like a harp.

• Orange - Beast keeping. Its power glyph is a pig hatching from an egg.

• Yellow - Potionists. Its power glyph is a potion bottle.

• Green - Plants. Its power glyph is a plant vase.

• Light Blue - Illusions. Its power glyph is a mirror.

• Blue - Healing. Its power glyph is a wrapped hand.

• Purple - Oracle. Its power glyph is an eye.

• Orchid - Abomination. Its power glyph is a face of an abomination.

• Brown - Construction. Its power glyph is a fist.

• Gray - Detention.

• Silver - Starter. No coven selected.

But while the school groups its students, what's really nice is that they do take the time to accommodate learners. What I mean is that as you can see Luz has a multicoloured version of this uniform as she wanted to try all of the Covens, and it's nice how they not only allowed this, but they took the time to create a multicoloured outfit which would befit Luz. More or less on the spot too - go figure. It's a special moment for the school too as they've always had students assigned to a specific Coven, but here's Luz being the first to break the norm by trying all of them. Also the rainbow outfit could be symbolism for the LGBTQ+ community as The Owl House has very prominent LGBTQ+ rep.

Now, I don't know whether or not the Hexside uniform has ever seen any changes, but this screenshot would suggest that the uniform has stayed the same for quite some time as you can see a young Eda amongst this lot wearing the uniform, and it still looks the same as in present day. This would perhaps further symbolise that Hexside believes strongly in if something isn't broke - just don't fix it. I say this as you get like the Hogwarts uniform where they've always been robes and ties, but they've seen slight or drastic variations over the years whereas it looks like Hexside remains the same and has remained the same for a long time.

I'd say this is a uniform that's pretty easy on the eye and I must admit it does at least look comfortable to wear as you obviously won't want your students in discomfort was they work throughout the school day. And I like it for it's uniqueness - I mean how many school uniforms look like something that came from the Medieval period? Even in fiction there aren't many uniforms like the ones at Hexside I can assure you.

It is a great uniform for it's unique look, the sense of belonging once again depending in this case which Coven or Covens you join and the accommodation given Luz was allowed to select more than one Coven. A job very well done in this case.

Number 3: Naranja/Uva Academy Uniforms and Blueberry Academy Uniforms

There's a good few schools in Pokémon both in and out of the games, but there are some stand outs to which when I was planning this list and consulting my brother - I decided to put them together. First up: Blueberry Academy.

Blueberry Academy is an unusual school by itself in the sense it's a school that it's stationed underwater, so it only seemed natural for them to have some unusual looking uniforms, but yet they're nice all the same. As you play the game, the uniform will obviously vary slightly depending what gender you select for your character and which version you play out of Scarlet and Violet and you can even get different variations depending on what time of year it is, for example:

Here's an Autumn variant and there are variants for the other seasons of the year as well. A particular favourite thing of mine about this uniform is how learners can really make it their own by adding their own touches and accessories so at least it's not an overly strict uniform in the sense that you have to wear this like this and that like that.

Lacey comes to mind specifically - here she has her long pink coat and nobody takes issue with it or else she wouldn't wear it. Let alone all of the Elite 4 each have their own unique looks as well, they're the Elite 4 - they're allowed to stand out.

Also coming from Scarlet and Violet also are the uniforms of Naranja Academy (left) and Uva Academy (right). Once again differences will depend on which version you play and there may by slight variants depending on what gender you pick your character to be, and you do get variations of the uniform depending on seasons too much like Blueberry.

Like so - which certainly makes things better in this case as I would pity these academies if they let their learners go around in the cold with short sleeves and short legs. While lots of things change up depending what variant you go for - the main piece is that your character always gets a hat.

All of these uniforms are nice and certainly nothing out of the ordinary for the Pokémon universe as even outside of school some of the characters do wear some pretty unusual, and in some cases, flamboyant outfits. Each uniform we have and will cover each has an identity of its own and these outfits are certainly no exception to this.

Duel Academy's Uniforms

And from one to the other in terms of all anime, card games, TV shows and even video games - we have the Yu-Gi-Oh! side of things with the uniforms of Duel Academy. You have three groups named after the Egyptian Gods which are Slifer Red, Ra Yellow and Obelisk Blue. Each uniform has its own variants with Obelisk Blue being the most apparent as Slifer and Ra have jackets and Obelisk get long coats to wear.

Yeah - we see how it is Kaiba - give Obelisk Blue the cool stuff while the others get the less cool stuff - especially Slifer as you lost to him - yeah, that's it - keeping proving you totally don't have an ego or any grudges of any kind. (LittleKuriboh, you may still want to call that Wambulance!)

But be it jacket or trench coat - the uniform does look very cool and certainly right at home in an anime. But as cool as it looks - I do have to ask one serious question about the girl's uniforms:

I know the age of consent in Japan is different to most other places in the world but why do the boys look so neatly and respectably dressed whereas the girls look so skimpy in comparison? I mean the Academy is aware they're taking on teenagers and not super models, right? I mean Alexis (pictured) how old is she exactly? Seriously if a school in real life dressed their female pupils like that - I would be very concerned.

This aside - I certainly wouldn't complain wearing uniforms like these if I were going to Duel Academy. Outfits in anime always tend to look so slick and badass and Duel Academy's uniforms are no exception. They add a layer of cool to our characters while also showing they belong to such a prestigious Academy. But more than anything I don't think anyone would particularly mind wearing these uniforms because it would make them look cool.

These uniforms are well designed, even if the female uniforms look rather questionable in comparison and they add so much to our characters and the Academy they go to. They are pieces of kit to get great enjoyment out of and no doubt any cosplayers of this school uniform out there have just as much fun wearing them as out characters probably do.

Before we talk about the last entry on this list, I'd like to give an honorary mention to the uniforms of the H.I.V.E. school from, well, the H.I.V.E. book series.

I sadly can't give any visuals as the H.I.V.E books have no pictures.

"How can you read these? There's no pictures!"

AS I WAS SAYING. From the book's descriptions we know that the students are given jumpsuits to wear and H.I.V.E by itself teaches different streams as they're called which specialises in different disciplines and they are as follows:

• Alpha stream, whose members wear black uniforms

• Henchman stream, whose members wear blue uniforms

• Technical stream whose members wear white uniforms

• Political/Financial stream. whose members wear grey uniforms

And suffice to say all this is very befitting for a school that teaches villainy. Each colour shows what stream you're in and it says a lot about each individual learner and what their specialities may be. In fact, the last few entries on this list seem to involve having a certain group each learner belongs in and funnily enough so does the last one which is what we'll cover now.

"Still no pictures."

WILL YOU GET OUT OF HERE?!

"Nobody gets rejected like Gaston."

Anyways my lovelies - onto the last entry:

The Hogwarts Uniform

The list is in no particular order but out of all of them I would easily say that the Hogwarts uniform is my favourite out of them all. To a casual eye, without any outer layers, it may look fairly ordinary what with a tie, shirt and jumper but of course what makes them different is much like Duel Academy, the colour variations depending what house you belong in be it Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff or Slytherin. (Red, Blue, Yellow and Green respectively.) But as well as the colour codes, once the outer layers come in that's when we know that this uniform is a cut above the rest.

We get the robes which adds a level of badass to this uniform and adds a layer of fun and long flowy garments are always fun to swish around in. This gives Hogwarts an identity of its own. (Sure wish my school uniforms had something this awesome to wear.) And much like the jumpers and ties, each robe has colour coded lining in the hood and partially in the front of the robe and each once has the crest to each house too.

And if that's not enough, Slytherin house in particular take things a step further by having snake tie pins and snake rings which is a pretty cool detail I might say as Slytherin house do love their snakes - I mean the house crest emblem is a snake and some of the students themselves are snakes so it works, plus it helps Slytherin stand out from the rest and gives the house its own identity.

Those were little things you may not first notice watching the films, heck I didn't even notice until I saw it in a video from the Studio Tour talking about them and once you do notice it - they may be small but they are very welcome details indeed. But naturally once the colder months start rolling in - how do they keep warm? Nothing to worry about as each house has a colour coded scarf and my personal favourite part - the cloaks they get for the winter.

Now the design of the winter cloaks are nothing complex - nor do they need to be. They're just black cloaks with the house emblem and seem to fasten via hook and eyes, no collar, lining, nothing - just plain sweet and simple - but I still love this as again it adds something to the uniform and the students won't go cold during winter. (Hermione certainly looks cosy wrapped up in her's like that.)

Much like Nevermore - for how different each house looks - it's the same kind of design with just a black robe but each student still expresses their own individualities by the way they wear it such as for example: Hermoine always looks neat with hers whereas Ron tends to look a bit scruffy.

Now, those who know me will know I have cosplayed Hogwarts students and currently have Ravenclaw and Slytherin at the time of writing - but I must insist that it is not out of bias that I call it my favourite. I call it my favourite the more I watched the films and the more things I noticed about it coming to my own conclusions. However wearing it - I can confirm it is a very comfortable uniform.

Of course you pick the jumper according to your size and robes and not supposed to be fitting garments so that does add a level of comfort and once you get the jumpers, you literally get what you see as they're made by the same company who made them for the films so you really get a good taste of what wearing a Hogwarts Uniform is like.

But even so - I love the Hogwarts uniform for its uniqueness, it looks like a badass uniform and it's certainly most befitting for a school that teaches Witchcraft and Wizardry. Plus the individuality of each house is what makes it my favourite of them all on this list. To finish off however, it is interesting to note there is a university in Portugal which did play a massive part in inspiring Hogwarts and their uniforms, and you'll see why from this picture.

Pretty evident huh?

Anyways let's hear it from you folks, what's your favourite school uniform on this list? Is it even one that isn't on this list? Share your thoughts in the comments. And until the next time - be good to yourselves and may you live long and prosper.