Figure 1.--This little French-Canadian boy wears a beret with a winter coat and rubber boots. The photograph was taken in Montreal during winter 1950.

The primary influences concerning headwear was the climate. Warm headwear along with other cold weather gear i need during the winterWe see knit stocking caps and various cap styles with ear flaps were worn such as lumberjack style caps. The later is used by comedians seeking to lapoon Canadians. There were also national influences. The primary fashion influence with headwear seems to have been America, perhaps because the climate is more similar to Canada than that of England. and of course the United States is a large country with an important fashion indutry. This may explain the importance if tge flat cap and subsequently baseball caps. We do note some English influence, especially among upper-class Canadians. We note a few boys wearing peaked caps. We are less sure about French influences. we note younger boys wearing berets, but we have seen that in America as well. Berets seem, however, more common in Canada and we see somewhat older boys wearing them. We are not entirely sure about the fashion influences involved here. W e assume thar berets were most common French Canadians, although we are not sure. And we do not know to what extent English Canadians wore them. The French came to Canada before the French began wearing berets. So the influence would have been through fashion magazine are other such sources. Most of the exmples we have found seem to be from the early 19th century through to the 1950s.

Created: 9:56 PM 5/28/2012
Last updated: 9:57 PM 5/28/2012