I realize this isn't one of the my summer projects but I couldn't resist taking some rather 'European' shots of my Métis bourgeois kit with the new top boots. I've also been re-reading Jane Eyre of late and having major flail about Mr. Rochester.

A Bit of Historical Background

(Ripped off from [link] because I'm teh lazeh)

This particular outfit was inspired by Cuthbert Grant ([link]), who was an early 19th century Métis leader. The Métis, for the record, were a distinctive culture that emerged in the late 18th and early 19th centuries as a result of unions between European traders and First Nations women. Grant was of Scottish and Cree/Assiniboine descent and he led the North-West Company faction in their ‘war’ against the Hudson’s Bay Company - both were big fur-trading companies and each sought to secure a monopoly over the region, resulting in all sorts of unsavory methods of control. The directors of the NWCo recognized Grant’s influence with the Métis and appointed him ‘Captain General of All Half-Breeds’ (as they were stereotypically called back then), hoping to use the considerable skills of the Métis hunters in their struggle against the HBC. Things came to a head in 1816 when Grant and his men had a run-in with HBC colonists at Seven Oaks, just north of the Forks of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers. It’s been called a ‘battle’ by the history books, but it was really more of a skirmish – most of the settlers were killed and Grant had to prevent his men from doing further damage to the survivors. He eventually ended up founding a settlement for the Métis at White Horse Plains (twelve miles west of Winnipeg).

The Clothing
I used Butterick’s Making History #3648 for the coat and had amazing luck with it – no alterations, no fitting issues. It’s made of black melton wool and lined with gray cotton broadcloth.

The waistcoat is actually 1780s and borrowed from my Dinner Jacket outfit of that period since I haven’t had the time to make a proper early 19th century version. The Métis were profoundly good at using what they had available and there’s absolutely nothing to indicate that Grant wouldn’t have rifled through his late father’s belongings and found this.

The breeches are actually my regular riding breeches (God, the more I write this, the more I feel like a hack) since, like the waistcoat, I didn’t have the time to make a proper period pair. However, in complete accordance with early 19th century fashions, they are appropriately skin-tight.

Lastly, you can't wear early 19th century guy's stuff without 'burns, so I photoshopped some in. Would grow my own but you know.... heh....