Picnic on Goat Island, Niagara Falls, 1831 (Detail).
This watercolour was painted by James Pattison Cockburn (1779-1847). The women's clothes resemble those shown in illustration 4. Note the little girl wearing a dress and kerchief like her mother's, but shorter. The woman on the right wears a stylish bonnet, while the woman's on the left is a bit out of date. The wide, flat brim is an 1820s style. The girl wears a straw hat. They were also worn by women but only as protection against the sun.
One woman wears a shawl with patterned ends; long shawls, of wool or silk, had been worn since the beginning of the century. The most costly ones were Indian, woven in Kashmir. Weavers in Norwich and Paisley imitated them but not in technique or quality.
Other interesting accessories are flat slippers with crossed ribbons, and veils thrown back over the bonnets. Veils had to be large to cover the wide brim and hang down in front like a curtain.
The men's costumes are important because so few of this period exist. As was the fashion, none of the men are wearing matching coats and trousers. Two are wearing tail coats, called day or evening dress coats according to the occasion. The others wear informal frock coats. Trousers were held taut by braces and straps under the feet. Two men wear straw hats, the others silk toppers. Note the high cravat or stock worn by the man standing by the tree. Only the edge of his shirt collar shows above it. In contrast, the man sketching seems to wear a kerchief. Kerchiefs were worn mostly with work clothes consisting of shirt, trousers or old breeches, and a loose waistcoat.
The boy on the left wears a frilled collar which would be his shirt collar. His cap, with full crown, was the kind worn by boys in the first half of the century.
