German First Communion Chronology: The 1960s

erste Kommunion
Figure 1.--We have two 1963 portraits of a German primary class in 1963. Here we have the class on a normal school day. Note how all the boys except one are casually dressed. And it looks like they all wear long pants. Put your cursor on the image to see the children all dressed up for their First Communion.

Boys clothing styles were changing in Germany durung the 1960s. We see several major trends. American casual styles like "T"-shirts and jeans were becoming increasingly popular. Short pants were no longer standard for boys throughout the year. This can be seen in the early-1960s and was especialy the case by the end of the decade. Boys commonly wore shorts during the summer for casual wear, but they had become much less commom during the winter. Another major trend was declining informality. Boys less commonly dressed up in suits even for occassions in which suits were once expected. Even so, First Communion continued to be one occassion for which mothers did tend to dress the children formally. We see a lot of German boy boys wearing dark suits with short pants and white knee socks. Short pants and knee socks were becoming less common for German boy as we can see from shool portraits. Short pants suits were, however, still very commonly worn for First Communion. A child's First Communion celebration was a very well etablished tradition and thus took longer to be affected by poplar fashions. Dark short pants suits and white knee socks were very common throughout the decade. Many of the black and white photogrphs look like black suits, but we see dark blue suits. We do not see many white suits. And we some some boys weating long pants suits which were not very common in the 1950s. The girls continued to wear white junior wedding dresses. They were often worn with white tights.

Fashion Trends

Boys clothing styles were changing in Germany during the 1960s. We see several major trends. American casual styles like "T"-shirts and jeans were becoming increasingly popular. Short pants were no longer standard for boys throughout the year. We see more and more boys wearing long pants, epecilly during the winter. This was a major change from the 1950s+This can be seen in the early-1960s and was especially the case by the end of the decade. Boys commonly wore shorts during the summer for casual wear, but they had become much less commom during the winter. Another major trend was declining informality. Boys less commonly dressed up in suits even for occassions in which suits were once expected.

First Communion Fashions

Even so, First Communion continued to be one occasion for which German mothers did tend to dress the children formally. We see a lot of German boy boys wearing dark suits with short pants and white knee socks. Short pants and knee socks were becoming less common for German boy as we can see from school portraits. Short pants suits were, however, still very commonly worn for First Communion. A child's First Communion celebration was a very well etablished tradition and thus took longer to be affected by poplar fashions. Dark short pants suits and white knee socks were very common throughout the decade. Many of the black and white photogrphs look like black suits, but we see dark blue suits. We do not see many white suits as were common in America. And we some some boys wering long pants suits which were not very common in the 1950s, but short pants seem more common--especially during the early-60s. The girls continued to wear white junior wedding dresses. One difference in the 1960s was that the girls now wore their white dresses with white tights rather than long stockings. We do not see the girls wearing white knee socks like the boys. The boys on the other hand which used to wear black long stockings fror First Communiin did not begin wearing dark tights.

Individual First Communions










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Created: 1:05 PM 11/18/2013
Last edited: 1:05 PM 11/18/2013