Bathing suits are among the few items of women's sportswear that have a style of their own. The one shown here is typical of those worn in Canada during the second half of the nineteenth century. It consists of a dress with a sailor collar and a pair of matching drawers, both of brown wool material. The dress is trimmed with bands of red cotton and the scalloped edges are finished with buttonholing in red wool. This bathing dress, as it was called, was worn by a Vancouver girl in the 1880s or a little later. The skirt is long compared with those shown in fashion plates of the period.
The man's snowshoeing outfit was worn in Toronto in the 1880s. It is of grey blanket cloth. The double-breasted coat has flaring skirts. All the seams are piped with red cloth. The hood buttons under the collar. The breeches buckle below the knee. This style of winter wear was adopted by snowshoe clubs in QuΘbec and Ontario. Those of one MontrΘal club were made of white Hudson's Bay blanket with coloured bands. They resemble outdoor clothing worn in many parts of Canada. Some can be seen in the paintings of QuΘbec winter scenes by Cornelius Krieghoff.
Courtesy: Royal Ontario Museum and Vancouver Centennial Museum
