…clearly I couldn’t think of a title for this post. Original Twitter thread found here.
Today we’re going to be trying to figure out the time period that Anne of Green Gables is set in and talking about the fashion of that time. This is going to be a multi-part series with a lot of images. Seriously, I have like 10 pages of notes and a LOT of pictures bookmarked.
So I’m gonna ask y’all to be patient with the speed on this one, okay?
Let’s start with what we know about the time period of Anne of Green Gables. (Not any of the sequels – in this thread, I will be treating AOGG as a standalone work.)
First, Montgomery wrote it in 1906 so it can’t be any later than that. In “Anne to the Rescue”, the Prime Minister who’s visiting Charlottetown is definitely John A. Macdonald. Marilla comments on his nose and that was something many political cartoonists caricaturized about him.
He was Canada’s first Prime Minister, and also technically the third as he served twice with another dude between his two terms. The first time was from 1867 to 1873 which is way to early to be Anne’s time period IMO.
Going by the fashion of the time alone, you’re looking at straight, tight sleeves and very slight bustles. Puffed sleeves don’t fit.
Purple dress by Southend Museum Services via Wikimedia commons. Red dress photo is public domain from the Met via Wikimedia commons. First fashion plate is public domain via Wikimedia commons and the second is by Nicole.c.s.y93 via Wikimedia commons.
John A. Macdonald’s second term was from 1878 to 1891. “Anne to the Rescue” takes place in January of Anne’s second year at Green Gables. December of Y2 is when Matthew gives Anne the Christmas dress, and that year the size of the puffs have gotten even larger.
Let’s backtrack slightly and define our time periods.
Canada became a country (according to white people) in 1867. I’m sure y’all knew that. In any of the time periods Anne could be set in, the British influence will still be very strong. Because of that, in this series, I’m going to use the British eras for reference. (Eras in British history refer to who was ruling at the time.)
Queen Victoria = the Victorian era. King Edward VII, her son = the Edwardian period. Victoria’s reign was 1837 to 1901, and Edward was on the throne 1901 to 1910, but there is actually some overlap when you’re talking fashion, since fashion changes aren’t instant. Like, if you look at early 1890s, they look very 1980s.
As well, sometimes the term Edwardian is retroactively applied to fashion things that happened during the actual Victorian period as Edward was a big leader and influencer of fashion. So some stuff from before 1901 can be considered Edwardian. I know it’s a bit complicated, but we’re all on the same page, yeah?
Also Victoria Day is May 20th this year. Her birthday was May 25th so our holiday is the Monday before the 25th. May long weekend is also my town-wide garage sale. Not related, just a fun fact.
As Canada is a Commonweath country, obviously the British influence was huge. And still is, to some extant. We have the Queen on our money, we have Victoria Day, Boxing Day, we spell thing with u’s. It was even greater in Anne’s time period, though. Canada was colonized under Queen Victoria’s reign. So when we’re talking fashion, it makes the most sense to me to look to that direction than to look to the US for context.
Another thing I find interesting – they have afternoon tea in Anne, and Queen Victoria was the one who made that a Thing. One of her ladies in waiting began having a small meal in the afternoon, usually around 4, as she couldn’t wait for til a 9pm dinner. (I get that. My blood sugar isn’t down for that schedule either.)
The lady would invite friends into her dressing room for it and Victoria caught wind of it and really liked the idea, and it became an elaborate thing. That’s where “tea gowns” are from. Which I’m not going to get into because this thread is going to be long enough, but look up sometime. That was in the 1850s and you can see how normalized it is in Anne by our time period.
I just thought that was neat lol.
So, 1870s fashion we talked about.
Moving into the 1880s, it’s not too different. Still narrow sleeves, and skirts narrow as well besides a brief resurgence of the bustle in the middle of the decade. This is, I believe, the fashion period that Marilla is using to make Anne’s dresses in the beginning of the book.
This, for instance, is a great picture from the mid 1880s – from this site, used with permission.
This was a wealthy family from Ontario wearing their best clothes, so this wouldn’t be so much everyday clothes but it helps you get the idea.
Random trivia, the lady on the bottom left with the very short hair – she may have been recovering from a bad illness. A lot of the time when women in this time period cut their hair very short, it was because they were very seriously ill and couldn’t manage the upkeep.
In general, your early 1880s has a lot of 1870s influence… typical for most decades of fashion. It’s pretty minimal in silhouette.
Brown plaid dress and floral dress by the Met via Wikimedia commons.
The bustles from the later half of the decade are kind of great though. (Bustles are the big butt bumps.) This isn’t even as big as they could get.
LACMA, Met, Met, they’re all public domain, I’m getting tired here, lol.
Going up to the very end of the 1880s, you’re still in that same area.
Some pictures from 1888. Pictures from here out are from Libraries and Archives Canada or the Met’s fashion plate collection. All are public domain. Click to enlarge I think.
And some stuff from 1889
Oh and this is a series of photos from I think an ice show in early 1889 which… what is going on in this ice show? There’s another I can’t find now, I think, where her skirt is just a tennis net?
Okay, back to establishing our timeline. Sleeves begin to puff as we move into 1890. Some of these pics have specific dates which is super cool.
So, we have March 1890, May 1890, and July 1890.
I particularly like this one from October 1890 that’s titled as “Nidd, Mrs. & Friend” and how much it looks like an awkward prom picture.
Last one from 1890, specifically December 1890.
Moving into 1891, the sleeves continue to get larger but usually not as huge as they’ll eventually become.
Also I keep wanting to make up backstory for these people. Like that second picture especially. Who are they?
More from 1891
Now the reason I’m focusing a little extra on 1891 is because that is the absolute latest that “Anne to the Rescue” could happen. John A. Macdonald was no longer Prime Minister after June 1891.
He was also dead.
I found a couple articles that referenced Macdonald visting P.E.I. in 1890, but it was a casual visit to a Senator friend in Charlottetown. The political meeting of the book seems to be purely fictional.
That Senator friend just happened to be Donald Montgomery, one of L. M. Montgomery’s grandparents. (Her father’s father, not the one she lived with after er mother died.)
Montgomery even met Macdonald on that visit. It happened in August 1890.
There’s an article out there called “The Hijacking of “Anne”” by Virginia Careless that puts the year Anne came to Green Gables as 1880. She uses the sequels to make this timeline and honestly? My suspicion is that as we get into sequels we’ll mostly discover that Montgomery wasn’t great at math.
Careless uses later events that I’m not looking at because I only want to use evidence from AOGG itself for this particular thread.
And I’m sorry, but puffed sleeves were NOT a thing in 1880.
Do you see a sleeve puff??
Careless says, “That date is more in keeping with her longing for puffed sleeves in 1880, when she came to Green Gables. In 1877, her eleventh year according to the Treasury, such sleeves were not possible with the fashions then current.”
NOPE makes no sense! I know the article is from 1992 but like. You got paid for that, Careless.
Going by the date of Macdonald’s visit to Charlottetown and his death, and the fashion trends of the time, I am comfortable saying Anne came to Green Gables between 1889 and 1891. Specifically I think she came in June 1890. I think Macdonald’s fictional visit happens in 1891, and Anne gets her dress in December 1891.
Thing in the sequels may contradict this, but that’s where I think we stand judging by AOGG alone.
The timeline I think works:
1890 – Anne comes to GG in June, is 11, Y1
1891 – Croup in January, Christmas dress, Anne is 12, Y2
1892 – Hair dye, Queen’s class, Anne is 13, Y3
1893 – Mostly just a lot of school, Anne is 14, Y4
1894 – Queen’s exam, white sands hotel concert, Anne is 15, Y5
1895 – Year at Queen’s, Matthew’s death, Anne is 16, Y6
Also you can’t just say any puffed sleeve fits Anne’s time period. Sleeve puffs in the 1830s are much lower than the ones in the 1890s (and beyond).
Plus it doesn’t work with the tea thing. Can you tell I’ve discovered a pet peeve?
I think that’s about good for today. Not the last thread you’ll be seeing on this though! We have many things to discuss.
Shout out to Library and Archives Canada and the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s fashion plate collection.
Both were big helps in this and future threads.
Editing Laina: #LainaReadsAnne will be returning live soon! I’m getting caught up on a few things, and then we’ll be getting back into recaps! My summer job just got in the way.
Peace and cookies,
Laina
Laina Has Too Much Spare Time 
Olden days dresses definately fascinates me