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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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