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HBC has some information about Spanish First Communion suits in the the 20th century. At this time we hav no information about First Communions during the early 20th century, but we know something aboutsubsequent decades. Available images show that Spanish boys in the 1920s were wearing dark suits for first communion. I'm not sure if these were black or blue suits. While all available images show boys wearing dark suits, there were substantial differences in these suits. A variety of suits were worn, including long pants, knickers, and short pants. I am not sure about the relative popularity of the different types. Sailor suits in the 1990s were popular outfits for Spanish boys taking their First Communion.I don't know when it first became common but at Spamish contributor reports seeing old fotos of boys in their suits from the end of the 19th century century on. The old suits often had short pants as well as the satin ribbon but now, shorts pants are definately out! Interestingly, many of the sailor suits now worn by Spanish boys are officer or admiral suits.
Available images show that Spanish boys in the 1920s were wearing dark suits for first communion. I'm not sure if these were black or blue suits. While all available images show boys wearing dark suits, there were substantial differences in these suits. A variety of suits were worn, including long pants, knickers, ans short pants. I am not sure about the relative popularity of the different types. An analysis of the three available images shown here reveal the following. Notably these boys, especially the first and third boy would appear to comde from rather affluent families. Each looks to have had a new suit purchhased especially for this occasion.
Long pants: This boy shown here is dressed very formally. He wears a wing collar with an elegant white bowtie. The dark suit is probably blue. It is a double-breasted suit with very large lapels. A common style for the occasion was white gloves. Unlike some other countries, not all boys wore commemorative arm bands, but this boy does have some kind of flower and ribbon arrangement on his breast pocket.
Kneepants: Spanish boys after the early 1920s no longer wore kneepants suits with long stockings. This had been the predominate style for boys at mid-century, but had generally disappeared by the 1920s. I do notvyet have details on Spain, but in other European countries, kneepants were still worn in thec1910s and even early in the 1920s, but were rarely seen by 1925. The same pattern is probably true of Spain.
Knickers: The Spanish boy seen here in the knicker suit is not quite as formally dressed as the othr two boys. He also wears a double breasted knickers suit, but with a modern-looking soft collar and a white necktie. He does not wear white gloves like the other two boys. His knickers are cut quite full and he wears them with long black stockings, usually required for formal events. He has a ribbon on his breast pocket as well as a larger ribbon on his sleeve. This sleeve ribbon was commonly worn by both French and American boys at their First Communion. Except for the white tie, this image looks very similar to images of American boy taking their First Communion. In fact without information on the backmof the card, HBC could not have identified it as a Spanish image. Uncharacterically for these kinds of photographs, the boys shoes are not as carefully polished as was customary.
Short pants: The third boy is also dressed rather formally, like the first boy. He wears a dark suit with a wing collar and white bowtie. He also has white gloves. It is a little difficult to see, but it also looks to be a double-breasted suit. His suit, however is a short pants suit, rather long shorts with white three-quarter length socks. I'm not sure how common white socks were for boys in Spain, presumably his mother thought that they gave a more formal look. For some reason he does not have any commenorative ribbon on his breast pocket or sleeve, only a large hankerchief. He does have a medallion. This photograph was taken in the 1926. It is the only one of the three photographs that can be definitively dated. Note the close-cropped hair, looking much like a popular 1990s haircut.
Sailor suits: We are not sure if boys were wearing sailor suits for First Communuin in the 1920s.
We note a girl doing her first communion in Deleitosa, a small town in Extrmadura. This is a province known for its poor economy during centuries and this continued into miodern times. Even so, a poor family managed to find the monry for the girl's expensive first communion dress and new white shoes in 1950.
Our Spanish archive is still very limited. Thus we are not sure about the different outfitts Spanish boys wore for First Communion. We do note boys weraring sailor suits in the 1960s. Long pants white sailor suits ssemm popular. Here we see a First Communion service in Spain during 1969 (figure 1). The boys all wear the same long pants sailor suit outfits. These would be suits bought just for First Communiom. They would not have been used much afterwards. I am not sure if this was a school group or just a group organized by the local church. We are unsure just how popular sailor suits wre for First Communion, but we notice other Spanish boys wearing sailor suits in the 60s.
Sailor suits in the 1990s were popular outfits for Spanish boys taking their First Communion.I don't know when it first became common but at Spamish contributor reports seeing old fotos of boys in their suits from the end of the 19th century century on. The old suits often had short pants as well as the satin ribbon but now, shorts pants are definately out! Interestingly, many of the sailor suits now worn by Spanish boys are officer or admiral suits. Part of the charm of the sailor suit was that boys including futire kings, czars, and kaisers wore the uniform of the inlisted seaman. Some Spamish boys still wear the traditional inlisted sailor suit, but more and more boys are now being dressed like little admirals. I'm not sure if this is the parent's choice or the boys' choice.
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