o
DOCUMENTATION:
o
1713-1745: 39 fabrics and 15 colours of
waistcoats specified
o
1748-1758: 20
fabrics and 6 colours of waistcoats specified
o
1713-1758: 59
fabrics and 21 colours of waistcoats specified
o
o carpenters,[140] the lighthouse keeper,[141] the
beachmaster.[142] There is even mention of "a fisherman's gilet".
[143]
o It was not strictly reserved to this section of the
population, for one finds gilets, though rarely, among men such as
engineers, [144] or the clerk of the Superior Council. [145] In exceptional
cases, it would not be a simple filet of comfortable wool but at the same time
an elegant piece of clothing, when for example, it was trimmed "with white
satin cuffs". [146]
o 7. SHORT CAPE (MANTELET )
o One finds in the effects of a merchant-broker "a
lining for a mantelet of white wool". [147] The effects
of a ship captain include a mantelet of "common Indian
cloth lined with flannel".[148] This short cape was very popular among
women but was rarely worn by men. Only in New France did men adopt the short
cape[149] and, though mantelets were not common here,
Louisbourg was not an exception in this case.
o 8. POLONAISE
o Other than the fact that it was trimmed with frogging
(brandebourgs) (See Table No. 3), we have no description of the polonaise,
though vests of this type appear a dozen times in the documents. The specified
fabrics are similar to those used for ordinary vests (See Table No. 5):
plush,[150] wool (a coarse variety called pinchinat)[151] and
calamanco (calemande)[152] and of "rough blue fabric" (grosse
étoffe bleue)[153]
o 9. REDINGOTTE
o The redingotte, which took its name from
"riding coat", was a coat buttoned from collar to waist. It had a
collar like that of the surtout and another circular one
covering the pleats of the upper back like a short cape. From the number of
references to it (about thirty), it was more popular at Louisbourg than the
vest à la polonaise. It was made with cloth (drap) (See
Table No. 9) and was sometimes regarded as a vest, as when a soldier hid a
stolen object "under his redingotte" that is "under
his vest". [154] Thus it was not necessarily an outdoor coat.
o It is doubtful that every redingotte was
the elegant garment implied in the name. If it were so, it would be difficult
to explain why one was owned by a fisherman (compagnon pêcheur) [155] or
why another was worth less than 3 livres, [156] though that of the
governor, made of "gray cloth trimmed with a collar of black velvet",
[157] cost 101 livres. Between these extremes, prices averaged
between 10 and 15 livres. Those who wore redingottes were
generally the same people who wore suits.
o 10. OVERCOAT
o It was also the same people who wore the overcoat (surtout),
a type of "justaucorps which one wore over other clothes
during winter". [158] However it had a collar and the front buttons
stopped at the level of the pockets. There were only three buttons at the back
opening. Though it was theoretically an outdoor coat, it could replace
the justaucorps and in some cases, it could be part of a suit,
since one reads, for example, of a surtout "with its vest
and breeches". [159] The surtout was not unusual at
Louisbourg but it was less common than the justaucorps from
which it differed only slightly. Like the justaucorps, it was made
of wool or cloth, but the colours we know about were less sombre than those
used in the suit (See Table No. 10).
o
o
TABLE N0. 9:
FABRICS AND COLOURS OF REDINGOTTES
|
PERIOD
|
WOOL
|
OTHER
|
COLOUR
|
|
1713
to
1745
|
1 carisé
|
2 drap
1 gros drap
1 étoffe
|
2 blue
1 gray
1 "gray-brown"
|
|
TOTAL
|
|
|
|
|
1748
to
1758
|
1 carisé
|
2 drap
2 gros drap
1 étoffe
|
2 red
1 gray brown
1 brown
|
|
TOTAL
|
1
|
5
|
-
|
|
GRAND TOTAL
|
2
|
9
|
-
|
o
DOCUMENTATION:
o
1713-1745: 5
fabrics and 4 colours of redingottes specified
o
1748-1758: 6
fabrics and 4 colours of redingottes specified
o
1713-1758: 11
fabrics and 8 colours of redingottes specified
o
o
TABLE N0. 10:
FABRICS AND COLOURS OF COATS (SURTOUTS)
|
PERIOD
|
WOOL
|
OTHER
|
COLOUR
|
|
1713
to
1745
|
1 plush
1 camlet
|
6 étoffe
1 écarlate
1 toile
|
2 red
1 white
|
|
TOTAL
|
2
|
8
|
-
|
|
1748
to
1758
|
3 camlet
2 frieze (ratine)
1 carisé
1 mazamet
1 plush
|
1 drap
1 poplin
|
3 blue
2 red
2 gray
1 white
|
|
TOTAL
|
8
|
2
|
-
|
|
GRAND TOTAL
|
10
|
10
|
-
|
o
DOCUMENTATION:
o
1713-1745: 10
fabrics and 3 colours of coats specified
o
1748-1758: 10
fabrics and 8 colours of coats specified
o
1713-1758: 20
fabrics and 11 colours of coats specified
o
o 11. FROCKCOAT
o The "frockcoat" (volant) is another
style of coat known in Louisbourg, though it was more rare than the surtout which
it resembled, being differentiated only by its unbuttoned sleeves and buttoned
collar. We doubt whether these differences were of great importance in the
usage of the time. Frequent mention is made of a frocked overcoat (surtout
volant) [160] or an "overcoat or frockcoat of red camlet with a vest
and breeches...4 livres". [161] This example suggests a
resemblance to the justaucorps since it was combined with a
vest and breeches, just as in a suit. The frockcoat was sometimes very
luxurious. A ship captain had a frockcoat of "gray Brussels camlet trimmed
with frogging of gold lace and new buttons of gold thread", which was
worth 95 livres. [162] Another, valued at 16 livres,
was certainly more sober. It was probably part of a uniform, since it was
described as a "regulation white frock coat" (volant blanc
d'ordonnance). [163] When camlet is not specified, the most common
reference is to "cloth"(drap) without further detail.
o E. WORK CLOTHES
o 1. DEVANTAUX
o In 1756 the inventory of a merchant's gods included
"sixteen goat's leather devantaux" [164] which were not
listed among the same goods sold a few days later. [165] The sale included
sixteen leather aprons (tabliers) which were not in the inventory. This
suggests that a devantau was an apron. This deduction provides
the only definition we have been able to find for this term, which would
correspond to the leather aprons one sees in engraved illustrations of 18th
century fishing scenes: men cleaning the fish after the boats returned wore a
type of apron which covered their front (devant).
o Devantaux were
common at Louisbourg. [166] They belonged to the men (except captains) who also
owned cloaks and fishermen's capots. Hence it was a fisherman's
garment and the sixteen belonging to the merchant were undoubtedly for sale.
These ones were of goat's leather. Others were of sheepskin [167] and the rest
say simply "leather" or "skin" or do not specify the material,
as if a devantauwere of leather by definition.
o 2. APRON
o The simple apron (tablier) was no doubt used
more frequently than the documents show. There were one hundred and thirty-two
kitchen aprons, "both good and bad" worth less than one livre together,
in the household of Governor Duquesnel. [168] His servants wore them for work.
A cooper accused of theft was said to have "put it all in his apron".
[169] The cooper pretended that he was going to the pond where he soaked the
barrel staves used in his work. This shows that he wore an apron in the course
of his work.
o There are no references to aprons apart from these.
These are fairly important, then, to show that artisans and simple domestics at
Louisbourg protected their clothes with an apron while they worked.
o
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o
CIVIL COSTUME AT LOUISBOURG: 1713 - 1758
MEN'S COSTUME
o
BY
o
MONIQUE LA GRENADE
