Capote (garment)
A capote (French: [kapɔt]) or capot (French: [kapo]) is a long wrap-style wool coat with a hood.
From the early days of the
The
The Canadian Mackinaw jacket, originally made from HBC blankets,[5] serves as a functional equivalent of the Hudson's Bay Company blanket coat.[6] The Hudson's Bay blanket coat served as a template for the Mackinaw jacket.[citation needed]
The English language adopted the French word capote at least as early as 1812.[7]
Habitant capote
In the early 1600s, French sailors traded their capotes to the
Capot is the Quebec French word that described this unique winter jacket. From capot came the verb encapoter or s'encapoter also in Quebec French (meaning to put on a capot and other winter accessories before going out).[9]
Métis capote
The Metis man's winter attire was the capote; a thigh length coat with full length sleeves which could come with or without a hood or cape. Most had small shoulder decorations made of red stroud. To keep the coat closed there were both thongs and buttons or a sash.
"Red stroud" refers to the "Stroudwater Scarlet", cloth produced in the English town of
William H. Keating described a group of
in 1823.All of them have a blue capote with a hood, which they use only in bad weather; the capote is secured round their waist by a military sash; they wear a shirt of calico or painted muslin, moccassins and leather leggings fastened round the leg by garters ornamented with beads,&c. The Bois brulés often dispense with a hat; when they have one, it is generally variegated in the Indian manner, with feathers, gilt lace, and other tawdry ornaments.
— William Keating 1824[14]
In Canadian culture
In the latter half of the 19th century the blanket coat was popularized amongst the European-descended population of Canada to the extent that it was looked on as
The popularity of the coat was part of a wider movement to adopt aspects of the culture of indigenous people in order to establish a Canadian identity that was separate from both British and United States identities.[16] Two elite groups were important in establishing the blanket coat's popularity. One was the Montreal Snow Shoe Club, which adopted the blanket coat as required equipment.[17] Snow shoeing was another activity adopted from indigenous people and for a time became immensely popular as a sport. The other group was a succession of Governors General of Canada photographed wearing blanket coats. Perhaps even more significant for spreading the coat as a fashion was its wearing by the wives of Governors General, known as viceregal consorts. Initially considered a male garment, by this period it was being made in versions for women and children.[18]
Gallery
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Métis in capotes hunting buffalo in the Red River area (1822)
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Hurons de la Jeune Lorette, Québec, Canada c. 1838. Blue trimmed white capote and sash
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Habitant in winter dress, by Frances Anne Hopkins (1858)
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Members of the Montreal Snow Shoe Club in 1877 in capotes and sashes
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Members of the Montreal Snow Shoe Club in 1886 in capotes and sashes
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Capote for scout on raiding party, Siksika, early 1900s, wool from Hudson's Bay Company blanket
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William Jackson (Little Blackfeet) on white horse, Siksika (Blackfoot), Montana. c. 1900s.
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Traditional capote made with a Hudson's Bay point blanket
See also
References
- ^ "the native canadian". Nativecanadian.ca. Retrieved October 19, 2013.
- ^ "Hudson's Bay Point Blanket Coat". HBC Heritage. Retrieved 7 April 2022
- ^ a b "Capots (Art. III. Capots, with some Side Lights on Chiefs' Coats & Blankets, 1774-1821, by A. Gottfred.)". Northwest Journal Online. Retrieved 2014-01-29.
- ^ "Hudson's Bay Point Blanket Coat". HBC Heritage. Retrieved 7 April 2022
- ^
Reedstrom, Ernest Lisle (1991). Ernest L. Reedstrom's Scrapbook of the American West. Caxton Printers. p. 53. ISBN 9780870043031. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
The original mackinaw coats were made from Hudson's Bay "Point" blanket.
- ^
ISBN 9780670882434. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
The mackinaw blanket jacket is the old North West Company's equivalent to the Hudson's Bay Company blanket coat.
- ^ "capote". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
- ^ "Rocky Mountain House National Historic Site of Canada (The Capote)". Parks Canada. Archived from the original on 2013-10-23. Retrieved 2014-01-29.
- ^ a b Déliberations Et Mémoires de la Société Royale Du Canada. Royal Society of Canada. 1885. p. 21. Retrieved 2014-04-10.
- ^ a b c d "Metis Culture: A pictorial essay on the Metis capote". Laurence J. Barkwell. Retrieved 2014-01-30.
- ^ "History". Stroudwater Textile Trust. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
- ^ "Floral Beadwork: A Métis Cultural Heritage to Rediscover". Encyclopedia of French Cultural Heritage in North America. Retrieved 2014-02-05.
- ^ "Royal Alberta Museum Online Exhibitions: A Métis Fire Bag". Archived from the original on 2014-03-08. Retrieved 2014-01-30.
- ^ William Hypolitus Keating (1824). Narrative of an expedition to the source of St. Peter's river ... &c., performed in ... 1823. p. 44. Retrieved 2014-04-10.
- ISBN 978-0-8020-8590-0.
- ^ Stack, p. 33
- ^ Stack, p. 18
- ^ Stack, p. 21
External links
- Cmhg.gc.ca: Compagnies franches de la Marine winter dress between 1690 and 1700
- University of Oregon.edu: Metis textiles Archived 2016-12-22 at the Wayback Machine
- Smithsonian Institution.edu: Metis capote (without a hood)
- Smithsonian Institution.edu: Portrait of Robert Kennicott in 1862 wearing a Metis/voyageur outfit (see image 4) Archived 2013-01-03 at the Wayback Machine — in this Carte de visite Robert Kennicott is wearing a double breasted capote with buttons tied at the waist with a metis sash with a marten fur fire-bag tucked in. His pants are trimmed with ribbon on the outside seams and on the cuffs. The pants are tied just below the knees with garters ending in tassels and on his feet are beaded or embroidered moccasins. On his head is a toque.