Figure 1.--This Belgian boy was photographed in 1938. He wears a rather formal looking dark, but not black suit. He wears it with a soft-collar suit and rather informal dark gloves and patterened kneesocks. Also notice the traditional three-button trim on his short pants. He holds the mass book with what looks like a sheet of paper. I am not sire what that sheet of paper is. |
Informal suits were more common or First Communion than the formal suits. This was because that an informal suit could be used for many other purposes after the ceremony. Class factors could be involved here. Many families would have been streached to afford a formal suit just for First Communion. These informal suits had regularly cut jackets. There were both single and double-breasted suits, but the single-breasted suits were more common for these informal suits. Wide lapels were considered rather stylish. Many of theses suits had destinct patterns such as stripes rather than being solid colors. Solid colored suits, however, were also worn. They look rather like the boys' regular suit rather one purchased specifically for First Communion. Boys wore white shirts, almost always wth soft collars. Most boys wore short pants suits. We have noted a few boys which still had the the three button trim that had been worn on kneepants. They were commonly worn with patterened kneesocks. Many boys did not wear gloves, but some tht did wore dark colored gloves and not always white gloves as worn with he formal suits. I am not sure about caps.
Some boys wore rather a mix of formal and informal outfits for First Communion. This boy wears rather a conservative suit, but with rather sporty kneesocks (figure 1). The boy in this picture is wearing a white shirt with his tie knotted in a bery unusual longated knot. He wears a dark suit jacket with the wide lapels that were fashionable in the 1930s and 40s. It is a three-pieve suit with a vest. The jacket has three buttons along the sleeve. He has a white shirt and what looks to be a white sweater, suggesting that the weather was a bit chilly. The jacket sleeves and snd short pants look a bit long on the boy so we can asume that it was new suit just purchased for him. His short pants appears to be of a slightly different shade or color than the jacket, but this is due to the lighting in the picture. The short trousers have three ornamental buttons down the side. His turn-over-top argyle woolen kneesocks seem rather sporty in contrast to a rather conservative suit. He appear to have a ring garter to hold up the kneesocks. He is wearing rather modern looking shiny soft leather shoes. The dark gloves are probably worn for formality rather than cool weather. The boy has very curly hair. Given his age, we assume that was natural. He holds the mass book with what looks like a sheet of paper. I am not sire what that sheet of paper is.
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