Abstract

Under the Conservative government's National Policy, Canadian industry flourished moving steadily towards self sufficiency particularly in the Montreal dominated textile sector. As the leading citizens of Canada's commercial and industrial centre, Montreal's elite followed fashionable trends set by Parisian designers by purchasing their clothing while travelling abroad or patronizing exclusive dressmakers who would copy the latest elegantly engraved fashion plates appearing in international ladies' journals such as Harper's Bazaar. As the local press and Montreal produced journals began to include Paris inspired fashion commentary during the late 1880s and the rising retail dry goods sector offered an increasingly varied and up to date selection of reasonably priced fashionable dress goods, trims, millinery and accessories both locally and Canada wide through mail order catalogues, distinctions between the well dressed Montrealer and her less affluent fellow citizens began to blur. By the early 1890s fashion reflected a growing demand for practical, more simplified clothing. As women entered the workforce and engaged in active sports, collective taste adjusted to the introduction of ready-made, yet perfectly acceptable man tailored suits, blouses, skirts and shirtwaists freeing Canadians from total dependence on foreign imports or their own sewing skills in order to be fashionably dressed.