Canadian Boys' Headwear: Headwear Styles


Figure 1.--Sailor hats and caps were popular for boys in the late 19th and early 20th century. They were mot just worn with sailor suit, but with other outfits as well. This Montreal boy wears sailor cap with a Fauntleroy suit, we think about 1900. Curiously the cap was based on the actual sty;es worn by sailors. Notice the fancy hat the girl wears.

We note Canadian boys wearing various styles of caps and hats, but have only limited information at this time. Much of what we see is very similar to the United States, but there are some differences. 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.

Berets

We have noted some younger Canadian boys wearing berets. We are not sure how common it was. Nor are we sure what the chronology of this were. We have noted Canadian boys wearing boys during the 1930s-50s. Our archieve, however, is rather limited and berets may have been wirn earlier. Unlike France, we do not see older boys wearing beret. Rather like America, the beret seems to have been a style for girls and younger boys. One example here is that after World war II, we note some Canadian Scouts wearing berets. Most of the boys wearing berets seem to have been French Canadian boys. We are not sure if Canandian girls wore berets as was common in America. We belieeve that English Canadian boys did not commonly were berets because the French had a lowe-class status in Canada. In America French styles were considered fashionable and stylish wuithout any of the lower-class association in Canada..

Bonnets

Infant boys or even younger toddlers might wear fancy bonnets. These would have been the same for both boys and girls.

Caps


Baseball caps


Cold-weather Caps

We see boys wearing many styles of cold-weather caps. We suspect that cold weather hats were especially important and were similar to styles worn in northern states like Maine and Minnesota.

Flat Caps

Much more coimmon were various styles of flat caps. We note a lot of Canadian boys wearing flat caps in the early 20th century. There were, however, many different styles of flat caps with slightly different brims and crowns. Some look rather like peaked caps. There appear particularly to be a lot of variety in the crowns, many do not look flat at all. Many were made of wool. The better flat caps were made of tweed. They were worn by boys of all ages, beginning about age 6-7 years through older teenagers.

Peaked Caps

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.

Sailor Styles

Boys as in America and England commonly wore sailor caps and hats in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. We note many of the same styles worn in both countryies, including wide-brimmed sailor hats and various styles of caps. We notice boys wearing sailor tams about 1900. We notice one boy wearing a very large soft cap in 1907. One image shows a Canadian boy wearing a yachting style cap in the 1920s. Sailor styles were worn with sailor suits, but also with other suit styles.

Tams

We notice boys wearing tams in the late-19th and early-20th century. We note two boys wearing sailor tams about 1900.

Hats


Bowler Hats

We notice Canadian boys wearing bowler hats in the 1870s. One example is an unidentified Toronto boy.

Fancy Hats

We notice younger boys not yet breeched wearing fancy, decorated hats like the ones girls wore. An example is an unidentified Ontario boy in 1906.

Rounded Crown Hat

The rounded-crown hat was a populasr hat style for Canadoan boys during the 19th century. Trends seem similar to America where thecrounded-crown hat was the standard headwear for boys fir decades, especially common in rural areas. . A good example is the Ealing Public Schoo in 1888.









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Created: 8:05 PM 9/9/2004
Last updated: 9:45 PM 5/28/2012