Major James Wolfe, 20th Foot

In light of a haircut this Thursday, where I go from long and blond to short, dark, and wavy, I had to take one more shot of this outfit. I wanted to take this picture for a while now just because I never did get a good comparison with the portrait that inspired this particular uniform.

It's here: [link] Painted by Joseph Highmore around 1749, it shows young Major Wolfe in all of his high good humour. The portrait is currently at the National Gallery in Ottawa and I maintain that it's one of our best extant portraits of the man who had such a significant impact on Canadian history.

I used JP Ryan's 1750's Men's Coat Pattern JR-700 for the frock coat and the 18th Century Waistcoat Pattern JR-703 for the waistcoat. The coat is a red wool/viscose blend, lined with white cotton, and faced with light yellow melton, as appropriate for the 20th Foot. The waistcoat is the same light yellow melton, lined and backed with white linen. Both are laced in silver metallic lace which took me ages to find since fabric shops in Canada seem completely averse to carrying any kind of decent trim. That part alone took well over twenty hours of handwork. Bought the sash and gorget from [link] The tricorn came from Jas. Townsend and had to be reshaped since it was decidedly 1770s, rather than 1750s, as it was supposed to be.

Hope you enjoy!