Keywords Crafts

In 1703 Madame Riverin, wife of a member of Québec City's Conseil Souverain, was painted in a stylish dress called a mantua and an elegant head-dress known as a fontange. Her daughters were dressed similarly and her son was garbed in miniature modish male clothing. Such imitation of adult clothing was customary in children's attire.

When the province of Upper Canada was created in 1791, the newly formed governing class, as well as the other members of the elite, also attempted to maintain fashionable standards of dress. These standards, like those of English dress, were generally more conservative than the modish styles of Paris.

The first Canadian fashion plate, which appeared in March 1831 in the Montreal Monthly Magazine, probably was inspired by one in an English publication. With the improvement in overseas communication which took place in the mid-19th century, the time lag between new European fashions and their appearance in Canada was substantially reduced, becoming as short as 2 months.

Everyday Dress
All but the wealthiest settlers wore clothing made in the home, often of cloth spun in the home and woven domestically or by professional local weavers. Styles tended to be conservative and to reflect rural French or, later, English styles. In the mid-19th century, as more ready-made clothing became available, fashion slowly became more accessible to the masses; however, most working-class attire continued to be fashioned at home.

Relatively small quantities of this clothing have survived because, as it wore out, it was recycled into QUILTS, RUGS, etc. In 1884 the first mail-order catalogue, the T. EATON COMPANY pamphlet, appeared, making recent styles more accessible to everyone, even in remote rural areas. This important development decreased the difference between conservative rural and up-to-date fashionable dress.

Men's Clothing
In the early French colonial period, many of the garments worn by ordinary townsmen and male country dwellers (mostly farmers) were similar to those worn in France. In the 17th and 18th centuries these settlers would have worn a variety of garments, sometimes broadly echoing fashionable ones but of a simpler, more utilitarian cut and fabric.

During the 19th century similar garments continued to be worn but variety was more limited; everyday clothes were principally reminiscent of fashionable garments. Breeches were replaced by trousers, and waist-length jackets were common. Beginning early in the 19th century, imported manufactured English cloth increasingly replaced homespun in everyday dress.

Certain types of nonfashionable attire for men, during both the French and English colonial periods (and sometimes persisting later), were different from their counterparts on the continent. Everyday clothing had been influenced by native garb, eg, the French Canadian's domestically manufactured leather attire, including footwear with a MOCCASIN shape (bottes or souliers sauvages) and leather or fabric leggings. These garments were especially common among country dwellers and those actively involved in the fur trade (eg, COUREURS DE BOIS). They were adopted as protection against harsh weather and rough countryside. The moccasin-type footwear (mandatory for snowshoes) was used by all HABITANTS.

Also of interest were the decorative, high-crowned felt hats, trimmed with ostrich feathers, worn by the VOYAGEURS during the early 19th century. Voyageurs also frequently wore the ceinture fléchée, a woollen, finger-woven multicoloured sash with arrowhead motifs. This characteristic French Canadian accessory first appeared generally in the early 19th century and continued to be finger woven in Québec until late in the century.

The ceinture fléchée was also worn by habitants, used as a trade item in the fur trade and, eventually, adopted for sports and leisure wear by the bourgeoisie, especially with the blanket capot. It has undergone a revival recently and is again produced in Québec.

The Québec capot (in the 17th century the term generally referred to a cloak and, later, to a greatcoat) developed slowly in response to the harsh winters. Beginning in the second quarter of the 18th century, it could also have a hood. Often, for country wear, it was made from thick, grey, homespun étoffe du pays.

From the 1770s hooded capots were made in Québec from Hudson's Bay Company blankets and became a typical costume for the rural Canadien. They were white, with blue bands from the blanket near the hemline and matching bands near the wrist. They had an upright collar and were closed in front by a series of ribbon ties in red, blue or both colours.

A coat could be trimmed with ribbon rosettes in the aforementioned colour or colours. This picturesque dress was usually worn with a multicoloured wool sash, a red wool toque (lined in white) or fur cap, leggings (mitasses) and bottes.

In the 19th century, the blanket capot changed slightly to echo broadly the fashionable greatcoat of the time: buttons and epaulettes were added, ribbon decoration disappeared and different colour combinations in the TEXTILE appeared. During this period, the bourgeois adopted the capot for winter sports and leisure wear, and women began to wear a version of the garment.

The attire, especially in white, remains a characteristic one for Québec. Now known as the Hudson's Bay Company coat, it is manufactured in Canada for both sexes. FUR was also important to both men and women for combatting the winter cold. From the mid-19th century on, it was generally worn fur side out, creating a luxurious effect.

Women's Clothing
For ordinary and rural wear during the 17th century, and through to the late 19th century in Québec, women generally wore separate tops and skirts. In the 17th century and until the second half of the 18th century, corset bodices (approximately waist length and usually sleeveless), chemises (knee-length undergarments which could function for the working classes as blouses), petticoats (ie, skirts), aprons and caps were worn. This costume resembled attire seen in France and western Europe.

With the appearance of handweaving in New France, plain and checked or striped homespuns prevailed. Sometime during the mid-18th century, the corset bodice was replaced by a sleeveless one extending beyond the waist. With its possible stylistic variations, unknown today, it was referred to at the time as a short gown or jacket.

As our present century progressed, the dominant development was the gradual change in the supplier of clothing, ie, from the dressmaker to the department store. Yet, for wealthy clients, high-fashion dressmakers continued, for a time, to operate successfully in large cities. Such clients were served in the post-WWII period, in Montréal, through couturiers (ie, stylish, high-quality dressmakers running expensive establishments), who modelled their operations on those of French couture salons. In Canada this type of operation persists, but in a very reduced form.

The greatest difference in kinds of clothing in Canada, as elsewhere, relates less to an elite and nonelite mode than to trends towards fashion versus antifashion (attire which makes a point of going contrary to trends) and to an increasingly informal manner of dress.

Ethnic dress of relatively recent immigrants (eg, Lithuanians, Ukrainians) is generally worn on special occasions and has not blended into the mainstream of Canadian costume. Similarly, the plain, conservative everyday attire of the Doukhobors and Mennonites has remained independent. Religious, legal and academic dress, being of a conservative nature and mostly of medieval derivation, is familiar in Canada. The major development in this area has been the gradual disappearance of religious costume from the streets, especially in Québec, as a result of Vatican II (a gathering of the supreme authority of the Roman Catholic Church in Rome from 1962 to 1965).

Most provincial museums display some pioneer clothing, and excellent collections are held at the ROYAL ONTARIO MUSEUM and the McCord Museum Of Canadian History.

See also FASHION DESIGN; UNIFORMS.

Author JACQUELINE BEAUDOIN-ROSS

Suggested Reading
K.B. Brett, Modesty to Mod: Dress and Undress in Canada, 1780-1967 (1967).

Links to Other Sites
Cloth & Clay: Communicating Culture
This interactive multimedia website focuses on the culture of the native peoples of Mexico, Central America, and South America, as expressed through their land, clothing, ceramics, and shelter. A Virtual Museum website developed by the Textile Museum of Canada and the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art.

Glossary: Costumes
A multilingual vocabulary of basic terms for cataloguing costumes. From the International Committee for the Museums and Collections of Costume.