See more of the Virtual Museum of Canada
image image
Mail Box Before E-commerce: A History of Canadian 
Mail-order Catalogues image
Mail box
Mail box
image
image Main Menu Sources Contributors Travelling Exhibition Feedback image Table of Contents
image
image For Teachers For Collectors - For Teachers - For Students
image
image For Teachers
image
Topics
Fashion to Furnishings
Capturing Customers
Company Histories
From 
Order to Delivery
image
Timeline
Catalogues (1880-1975)
Games and Activities
image
  

Fashion: What's Hot, What's Not?

Subjects
Social Studies, History, Information Technology

Theme
Fashion

Resources

Description

  1. Choose an item of clothing or accessory below.
     
    Items to select:
      • Fan
      • Gloves
      • Parasol
      • Spats
      • Hat
      • Bustle
      • Handkerchief
      • Petticoat
      • Stockings
      • Riding suit
      • Cycling habit
      • Waist
      • Corset
      • Top hat
         
    • What is it?
    • Who used or wore it (men, women, children)?
    • What was it used for?
    • On what occasions was it used or worn?
    • When was it in fashion?
  2. To answer these questions, find the item in as many of the catalogues as possible by using the search feature on the Catalogues page.
     
  3. Each time you find it, record the page number(s) and catalogue.
     
  4. Print out or sketch one example from each catalogue.
     
  5. When you are finished researching the catalogues, make a collage and timeline that show how the item changed over time.
     
  6. Present this collage to the class.

For additional context, read the articles by Christina Bates and Shirley Lavertu on this site.

 

   
top of page
image
image image