Figure 1.--We note a procession down a German street. The photograph is undated, but looks like the 1920s to us. They look to be about 10 years old. The boys and girls are on separate sides of the street. The girls look to be wearing elaborate and identical junior wedding dresses with substantial veils. If the dresses are not identical they are certainly very similar. The Church must have provided guidelines to the parents. The boys on the other hand wearing a variety of mostly dark outfits, either black or navy blue. Put your cursor for an elargement of the boys' outfits.

We note a procession down a German street. The photograph is undated, but looks like the 1920s to us. They look to be about 10 years old. The boys and girls are on separate sides of the street. The girls look to be wearing elaborate and identical junior wedding dresses with substantial veils. If the dresses are not identical they are certainly very similar. The Church must have provided guidelines to the parents. The boys on the other hand wearing a variety of mostly dark outfits, either black or navy blue. The image is not real clear, but we see a range of outfits. The boys wear both regular suits and sailor suits. Its a little difficult to make out the suit style, but we see one boy with an old-fashioned wing collar. Quite a few boys are wearing sailor suits done in a range of styles. We notice varied collar styles. They wear short pans, knee pahnts and long pants with the sailor suits. One boy has white long pants. We also see white and black knee socks and black long stockings. Black long stockings were worn for formality, but we also notice white knee socks bing wiorn. White lobg stocking were less common, at leat for the boys. None of the boys are wearing caps or hats. Many of the children hold long white candles. We don't see any sleeve bows. A reader writes, "Nice photograph. I have a slight doubt about the dating. I have seen a fair number of German first communion photos, and I don't recall any during the 1920s in which long trousers were being worn. On the other hand, long stockings for first communion boys were being worn in some places up through the middle 1950s. I'm wondering if late 1940s or early 1950s might not be a better guess." Definitely not the 19 40s, 50s, or even late 30s. You can tell that my the girls' headwear. You are basically right about the long pants--but there is an exception. Some sailor suits were made with long pants. We see tht from the very beginning of sailor suits. Most boys wore sailor suits with short pants and knee pants, but long pants were an option, especially for formal occassions. Now the early-30s is a possibility. ButI I think the 20s is more likely. Look at the women at the extreme left, they are wearing 1920s fashions.

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Created: 1:43 AM 2/12/2013
Last edited: 1:43 AM 2/12/2013