Canadian Boys' Clothes: Garments--Costumes


Figure 1.--Here we see a formal studio portrait of two costumed boys taken in Montreal on June 4, 1897. The two boys are Master Gilmour (about 10) and Master Walters (about 12). The boys' names are obviously Anglophone. Unfortunately, we don't know their family Christian.

We do not know a great deal about Canadian costumes yet. We believe that trends were largely influenced by Britain until the turn of the 20th century. Costumes before the 20th century were primarily dressup outfits for portraits or formal parties rather than play outfits. As in America this probably changed after World War I. We then begin to see some American influences about the turn-of the 20th century. We think American mail order catalogs may have been a factor here. We do not at this time have any information on destincly Canadian costumes. We suspect that some boys wanted to dress as Mounties. We also have no information on trends in the French-Canadian community. Hopefully Canadian readers will provide some insights.

Master Gilmour and Master Walters

Here we see a formal studio portrait of two costumed boys taken in Montreal on June 4, 1897. The two boys are Master Gilmour (about 10) and Master Walters (about 12). The boys' names are obviously Anglophone. Unfortunately, we don't know their family Christian. They are dressed in special costumes as performers in some sort of entertainment--possibly for a school event or for a private family celebration of some sort. The skit in which they are engaged is obviously comic because the younger boy is dressed as a harlequin with a pointed hat, ruffled collar and long trousers with white ruffled bottoms. The older boy is dressed in a child's version of an adult impressario or master of ceremonies--with a silk top hat, cane, and tail coat. Notice also the spats and the white waistcoat with large black buttons and the outsized flower (artificial apparently) in his buttonhole. But instead of long trousers the older boy appears to wear black tights (or are they long black long stockings such as he would have worn for normal dress?). The harlequin costime was a popular one in Britain at the time. The master of ceremonies looks more like an American style. Children have always enjoyed getting dressed up for a special event. Here the boys are obviously having fun. Their parents apparently thought they looked cute enough to be photographed professionally by one of the local photographers. A reader writes, "I think it is likely that the costumes indicate some sort of private society entertainment, probably held at one of the substantial mansions of the Montreal elite." I'm not sure they wre involved in any kind of skit. We notice boys outfitted in costumes like this for formal portraits at the time. They also attended formal parties like dressed like this.





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Created: 7:25 PM 12/2/2005
Last updated: 7:25 PM 12/2/2005