Home >> The Beginnings >> Technology >> Clothing >> Women's Clothing and Footwear

Page 1 | 2

While the women of fur trade officers dressed increasingly in the English style, in general, mixed-blood women evolved a more practical costume. The "Canadian" fashion, as the Nor'Westers called it, combined both white and Indian features. The sketches by the Swiss colonist Peter Rindisbacher from the 1820s show the woman wearing high-waisted gowns with gathered but shapeless skirts which reached almost to the ankle. The long sleeved jacket-like bodice was very low cut and filled in a criss-crossed scarf arrangement, apparently to facilitate the nursing of children. The outfit was not complete without Indian "leggins", moccasins and usually a blanket.

When fur traders arrived in Canada they would have encountered Native women whose lifestyle, demeanour, customs, and dress were in total contrast to European females. Native women bathed openly, nursed their babies in public, dressed scantily in hot weather, and were accustomed to a hard physically demanding lifestyle. They had a natural acceptance of their bodies and their sexuality. In contrast, European high society exacted upon its females rigid rules of conduct, expected womanly pursuits, pure morality, and appropriate dress. A woman's clothing clearly identified and displayed her class and position in society.

While some European men formed alliances with Native women as an act of convenience and survival, other men made true commitments to their Native or Métis wives and to their Métis offspring. For example, David Thompson, explorer and geographer was married to Charolette Small, a Métis woman for almost sixty years. Their first of thirteen children was born at Rocky Mountain House. Wives of Hudson Bay Company officers and their Métis children were often encouraged to adopt European customs and fashions.

Women's fashion from the Romantic era (1820-1837) included elaborate hats, low necklines, jewellery, ringlets and fancy updos, satins, jewel-colours and many lacy frills. As the eighteenth century progressed, fathers who wanted to prevent their daughters from living as Natives became involved in their upbringing, which included importing calico and chintz material, ribbons, lace, ornamental earring, brooches, and ladies' magazines with pictures of fashionable European dresses.

The Romantic era was replaced by the Victorian era, which lasted from Queen Victoria's accession to the throne of England in 1837 to her death in 1901.Although fashion variations occurred during the Victorian era, it is most clearly identified by flirty hats being replaced by bonnets and full coverage of the body. A signature look given to uncovered hair was to part it down the centre and wear it in a bun. High neck lines, long sleeves, whalebone corsets, bustles, underskirts, and hoops or caged crinolines mark this fashion era — an era that restricted overt femininity and physical movement. The hoops were designed to mask a woman's shape from her waist down. The rigid, puritanical look of Victorian fashion became even more severe when Queen Victoria's beloved husband, Prince Albert, died in 1861. She went into deep mourning and wore predominately black for the rest of her life. As seen by the following photographs, the queen's personal loss and her influence over women's fashion translated across the Atlantic Ocean to Canada.

[Top] [Back]

Men's Clothing and Footwear

Women's Clothing and Footwear