Figure 1.--This French boy is shown in his First Communion suit, probably in the 1910s. He wears a knee pants suit, with legs cut well below the knees. This was a commercial postcard made in several different poses. |
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HBC does not know a great deal about French early-20th century First Communion ceremonies, but we have begun to acquire some information about the First Communion suits. The suit styles probably followed the fashion shifts from knee pants and stockings to short pants and three-quarter socks. Formality for First Communion often meant long stockings, but we see a lot of French boys wearing knee socks. We are not sure why long stockings were less common uin France. We suspet that climate was a factor. Three-quater socks seem were more common in France for general wear, but we see many boys wearing knee socks or First Communion. Formal wear however, sometimes is slow to accept modern trends. Knee pants suits were worn by most boys for First Communion. Our archive is not large, but we see quite a number of French boys with First Communion suits that were dark suits worn with dark knee socks. We notice various styles. We notice regular suits, eton suits, sailor suits and some tuxedo like suits. We do not yet see white suits. Many boys had the fancy white sleeve bows.
HBC so far have very little information on early 20th Century French. This is something that can not be gleaned from the photogaphic record. Photographs were mostly taken after the ceremony or at photographic studios. We have no information on the First Communion ceremony in France during the early 20th century. As a result, it is often difficult for us to descriminate between First Communion and Communion.
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The suit styles probably followed the fashion shifts from knee pants and stockings to short pants and three-quarter socks. Formality for First Communion often meant long stockings, but we see a lot of French boys wearing knee socks. We are not sure why long stockings were less common uin France. We suspet that climate was a factor. Three-quater socks seem were more common in France for general wear, but we see many boys wearing knee socks or First Communion. Formal wear however, sometimes is slow to accept modern trends. Knee pants suits were worn by most boys for First Communion. Our archive is not large, but we see quite a number of French boys with First Communion suits that were dark suits worn with dark knee socks. We notice various styles. We notice regular suits, eton suits, sailor suits and some tuxedo like suits. White suits appear to be a trend which developed after World War I. It does not appear that white suits for First Communion were popular at the beginning of the 20th Century. This appears more of a fashion that developed in the inter-war period. Most all of the suits were stright-leg knee pants, but we also see some long pnts suits. Bloomer knickers were common at the time, but we mostly see tright-lg knee pants for First Communion.
Short pants were less common before World War I, but became the most common style after the War in the 1920s.
We note boys wearing very elaborate sleeve bows in the early 20th century. They were an optional item, but many boys had them.
Many but not all Frnch boys wore white gloves for their First Communion.
A sash was commonly worn on the shoulder. Very formal tuxedo-like ties might be worn.
We have not found a lot of French First Communion portraits from the early-20th century. There seem to be more than during the 19th century, but not nearly as many as after World War I in the 1920s. We are not sure if this reflects the relative extent to which children actually did First Communions. We do not yet have enough images to assess the popularity of the different outfits the children wore, but have begun to collect some vasic information. Some boys wore bosters with their suits. We notice mostly dark suits, worn with knee pants, knickers, and long pants. They were worn with both socks and long stockings. We note fancy white sleeve bows which were an optional item. We also do not have enough image to differeniate between the 1900s and 1910s, but are adding information to our archive and hope to eventually be able to do so.
We have noted the following portraits of French boys taking their First Communion during the early 20th century.
Thhis portrait shows a boy from Rouen taking his First Communion in 1907. He wears a very fancy jacket, in some ways similar to a tuxedo with knickers pants. He has both a sleeve bow and white gloves.
Here we see an unidentified boyin his First Communion suit (1913). He is the future dather in a set of images in our French family page. Some children are hard to track as adults. The boy pictured here is easily identifiable in the subsequent images as he marries and has children and grandchildren. We find it a little more difficult to follow his future wife. Here he has carefully combed hair, not a center part, but cloes to it, His First Communion suit is like a tuxedo. He wears kneepants with three quarter socks rather than long stockings. The sleeve now identifies this as a First Communion portrait. Not the medalion on his lapel. I assume that is for the First Communion. I'm not sure if all these children got these for doing First Communion or if represents some specual achievement. French boys often were awarded medals for academic performance.
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