Figure 1.--This studio portrait of E. Masson was taken on May 11, 1897 in Montreal. The boy is Master E. Masson, who looks to be about 12 years old. He wears a very sporty spring outfit--a checked suit. These louldly paterned materials were much more popular for suits than is the case today. Image courtesy of the CF collection.

This studio portrait of E. Masson was taken on May 11, 1897 in Montreal. The boy is Master E. Masson, who looks to be about 12 years old. He wears a very sporty spring outfit--a checked suit. These louldly paterned materials were much more popular for suits than is the case today. The boy wears a double-breasted knee-pants suit, with long black stockings and fashionable leather gloves. Gloves were an important part of proper clothing at the time. Notice the high starched collar on his shirt and the striped bow tie. If he were an adult instead of a child, he'd be perfectly dressed for the races or a fashionable garden party. The only juvenile part of his outfit is the kneepants and long stockings. The neatly center-parted hair style adds to the dapper effect. This boy clearly comes from an affluent. He clearly enjoys his celebrity in the photograph and looks extremely self-assured. A French Canadian reader tells us. "If the boy here was English Canadian, the spelling would have been Mason. The Masson spelling shows that he is French Canadian. The physiognomy seems to be French-Canadian. The material weave is called "pied-de-poule" (hound's tooth check) and was very popular is France."

Created: 7:26 PM 9/27/2005
Last edited: 12:58 AM 9/28/2005