Figure 1.--Canadian boys like American boys, commonly wore flat caps in the early 20th century. There were quite a variety of styles. |
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We have little information on headwear worn by Canadian boys. We suspect that the styles were very similar to those worn by American boys. Boys from affluent families may have worn British styles as well. We have noted boys wearing British-style peaked school caps. These were also worn in America. Much more coimmon were various styles of flat caps. We note a lot of Canadian boys wearing flat caps in the early 20th century.We do not know if French Candian boys wore different styles. We have noted some boys wearing berets. Boys as in America and France commonly wore sailor caps and hats. We suspect that cold weather hats were especially important and were similar to styles worn in northern states like Maine and Minnesota.
The primary influences concerning headwear was the climate during the winter when stocking caps and various cap styles with ear flaps were worn. The primary fashion influence seems to have been America, although we note some English influence, especially amobg upper-cass Canadians. We are less sure about French influences. we note younger boys wearing berets, but we seen that in America as well.
We do not know if French Candian boys wore different styles. One notable difference was that berets were much more likely to be worn by French Canadian boys than English-speaking Canadian boys.
We note Canadian boys wearing various styles of caps and hats, but have only limited information at this time. Many of the camp styles seem very similar to popuilar American styles. We note many boys wearing flat caps just as was the case in America during comparable years. We noticed some differences. Berets seem have to have been more common in Canada, at least in Ontario among French Canadian boys. We tend to see British-style peaked caps more commonly in Ontaruio anong English Canadians. Of course we understandably note boys commonly wearing cold-weather caps.
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