Figure 1.--This Belgian boy was photographed in 1931. For some reason, he did not take off either his overcoat or his gloves for his First Communion portrait. Notice the military-style cap with tassles on the table.
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Figure 1.--This Belgian boy was photographed in 1931. For some reason, he did not take off either his overcoat or his gloves for his First Communion portrait. Notice the military-style cap with tassles on the table. |
We do not have a lot of information on the kinds of coats boys wore for First Communion. In part this was because often the waether is nice and boys did not wear coats. Also boys commonly took anu overcoats they wore off for a formal portrait. Most mothers wanted a portrait taken of their son in a suit often purchased for his First Communion. Unlike the suit, the coat would not be an item purchased especially for First Communion. Earlier a boy might have worn a reefer jacket with his sailor suit. With actual suits an overcoat in various styles was more common. The one shown here in 1931 has a wide lapel with velvet trim, a common detail in children's coats (figure 1).
The image seen here is interesting for several reasons. It not only shows the type of overcoat worn by Belgian boys for formal occassions like First Communion, but shows the less formal styles becoming accepted even for formal occassins. Note the rather loud patterened kneesocks that this boy wears rather than the dark long stockings that were still commonly worn in the 1920s. Also note the the military-style cap with tassles on the table. We are not sure if this was worn as just a stylish cap or was a uniform cap worn at his school.
A French reader writes, "I have my doubts that this portrait was taken the day of his First Communion. For First Communion this sort of kneesocks with patterned style were not appropriate and above all his sort of gloves. The rules concerning the gloves were well known. On such an important day only the white gloves or nothing were the rule."
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