“A gay sash, formed the prevalent costume”

While traveling from Penetanguishene to Manitoulin Island in the mid-1800s, British writer Anna Jameson recorded encounters with the Métis men who worked as guides and paddlers in the Upper Great Lakes.

Jameson’s observations aligned with those of many contemporary travellers remarking on the Métis of the Upper Great Lakes as visibly distinct and identifiable, both in manner and appearance. Clothing, in particular, marked this distinction. As Jameson noted of her Métis traveling companions:

“The other men were all picked men, Canadian half‐breeds... a handkerchief twisted around the head, a shirt and pair of trousers, with a gay sash, formed the prevalent costume.”

This description points to a recognizable Métis visual identity. Across the Upper Great Lakes and the broader North-West, Métis developed a shared material culture that was visible to outsiders and consistently remarked upon.

Travellers like Jameson did not need prior familiarity with the Métis in this part of the Upper Great Lakes to recognize their distinctiveness, as from an outsider’s perspective their way of being, including their dress, was uniquely their own.

See Our Sources

• Anna Jameson, Winter Studies and Summer Rambles in Canada, Volume III (London: Saunders and Otley, 1838),

• Upper Great Lakes Submissions to the Expert Panel

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