World War II Country Trends: Canada--Montreal Scene (1942)


Figure 1.--Here Montreal residents in 1942 are inspecting search lights being installed as part of the city's air defenses. The children in the photograph provide a good indication of how childeren in Montreal dressed at the time.

The boy in the foreground (back turned) is interesting as regards boys' clothes in Quebec in 1942. In this conservative province, dominated culturally by the Catholic Church, many boys still wore short trousers with beige or tan long stockings. But a number of older boys, who resisted their parents' desire to keep them in short pants, were beginning to protect their knees in chilly weather by alternative means--namely, "breeches" (known in Anglophone slang as "breeks"). The pants fastened below the knees like knickers but were not blousy or bloomer-like, and, instead of knitted cuffs to hold them in place, were usually fastened by buttons (usually several buttons) on the side of the lower leg. Boys wore them with knee socks, usually with turnover cuffs, but it was not unusual for boys to wear the tan long stockings that they had been wearing with shorts a year or so earlier and to turn over the tops so that they resembled knee socks. This appears to be the fashion in this photograph. Notice how long the tan stockings are and how they are turned down in a somewhat sloppy way. There was no elastic in these stockings so they would need to be held up with round garters just below the knee. The boy is wearing a somewhat old-fashioned flat cap with a peak as well. These caps persisted in Canada but had largely gone out of style in the U.S. by the early 1940s.

Montreal

Montreal is the largest city in Quebec. It was the cultural center of French-speaking Canada. At the time French speaking Canadians were most dominant in rural areas. They were very stronly influenced by te Catholic church and very conservative. Montreal had a majority French-speaking population, but the English-speaking population was still sizeable.

English/French Differences

We are not sure if the clothing the children are wearing were distinctly styles of the French-speaking population or if English-speaking boys would have dresses essentially the same way. A Canadian reader writes, "I guess children's clothing was similar for French and English speaking Canadians. If you take a look at that picture, you will see people dressed as everywhere in America. The mother is really well dressed with her hat. She makes me remember the wife of George VI at that time.never forget that Eaton's catalog was spreading all over canada from Toronto and that the nine story building in Montreal was a must for any French or English parents. And don't forget that when you came there, you had to speak English because merchants were English speaking. That is why French had to learn English. Sometimes people think we lived like hassidim. It was true when at school (Instruction was a very serious affair). But during the war, influence from USA became more and more apparent. For catholics, Jesuits from the United States had great influence on the more backyard clergy of Quebec." HBC would agree that the adults are dressed rather like Americans, but not the children. By 1942 flat caps, knickers, and long stockings were all going out of style in America and American boys never wore breeches to any extent.

Boys Clothes

The boy in the foreground (back turned) is interesting as regards boys' clothes in Quebec during 1942. In this conservative province, dominated culturally by the Catholic Church, many boys still wore short trousers with beige or tan long stockings. But a number of older boys, who resisted their parents' desire to keep them in short pants, were beginning to protect their knees in chilly weather by alternative means--namely, "breeches" (known in Anglophone slang as "breeks"). The pants fastened below the knees like knickers but were not blousy or bloomer-like, and, instead of knitted cuffs to hold them in place, were usually fastened by buttons (usually several buttons) on the side of the lower leg. Boys wore them with knee socks, usually with turnover cuffs, but it was not unusual for boys to wear the tan long stockings that they had been wearing with shorts a year or so earlier and to turn over the tops so that they resembled knee socks. This appears to be the fashion in this photograph. Notice how long the tan stockings are and how they are turned down in a somewhat sloppy way. There was no elastic in these stockings so they would need to be held up with round garters just below the knee. He looks to be wearing a beret,but we think it is a flat cap like the boy on the left on the bike is also wearing. These caps persisted in Canada but had largely gone out of style in the U.S. by the early 1940s.

Girls

We can tell less about the girls. One girl looks to be wearing a coat and presumably a dress with long stockings. A younger girl wears a snow suit. Difficult to see is a girl around 7 or 8 years old in a dark coat and over-the-knee leggings with buttons on the side. It completes the large array of fashion style for kids.







HBC









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Created: 7:28 PM 2/2/2006
Last updated: 10:53 PM 2/2/2006