Figure 1.--As far as we can tell, the conventions for wearing tights were similar in America and Canada. Tights were mostly worn by girls. Were we see an unidentified Canadian boy wearing white tights and strap shoes in 1960. The jacket to us, however, with the wide lapels looks to us more like the50s. He looks to be about 6-years old. We do not think this was very common. We wonder if this was perhaps more common among French Canadians than English-seaking Canadians. The studio backdrop seems very basic and old-fashioned. A reader writes, "It is possible that the short suit was second hand from a relative which would explain the 1950s looking lapel in 1960 (assuming the date is correct). Also I would guess that the boy is aged 5 or 6. He definitely looks to be dressed for a formal event. I wonder if he is French Canadian or from a more rural area which may have been more conservative." Also note the wide tie, another 1950s indicator.

As far as we can tell, the conventions for wearing tights were similar in America and Canada. Tights were mostly worn by girls. Were we see an unidentified Canadian boy wearing white tights and strap shoes in 1960. The jacket to us, however, with the wide lapels looks to us more like the50s. He looks to be about 6-years old. We do not think this was very common. We wonder if this was perhaps more common among French Canadians than English-seaking Canadians. The studio backdrop seems very basic and old-fashioned. A reader writes, "It is possible that the short suit was second hand from a relative which would explain the 1950s looking lapel in 1960 (assuming the date is correct). Also I would guess that the boy is aged 5 or 6. He definitely looks to be dressed for a formal event. I wonder if he is French Canadian or from a more rural area which may have been more conservative." Also note the wide tie, another 1950s indicator. A Canadian reader tells us, "There could be another hypothesis. This boy could be a son of a wealthy family immigrant from Czeskoslovakia after the Communistscseized control of that country in 1948. A lot of people from that country or neighboring countries like Hungary emigrated to Canada. The best indice is the short pant. In Canada, no boy, French or English speaking , worn such very short pants at the time. But I remember that around 1950, I saw a little boy like this one dressed in similar short pants suit. He was from Czechoslovakia. Because it was on Spring, he wore just ankle socks with his suit. I note HBC pages with Czech children wearing long stockings with short pants. A good example is a Czech school portrait. I'm less sure about tights and HBC has fewer images from the 1950s and 60s." This is a possibility. I don't think tights appeared in Czechodlovakia until after the mid-60s. But that does not mean that a Cech mother emigrating gto Canada might not have purchased them once in Canada. Both boys and girls commonly wore long stockings in Czechoslovskia and she could have been folloeing the same conventions.

Created: 1:42 AM 11/27/2011
Last updated: 1:42 AM 11/27/2011