Acadian (cajun) Clothing

The Acadians were also faced with the problem of adjusting their clothing for the climatic conditions of the Gulf Coast. Because of the cold winters and cool temperatures in the spring and summer in Canada, Acadian men and women were accustomed to wearing woolen garments that were dyed red and/or black.

But in Louisiana, woolen garments were too warm, except for the very coldest days. The women quickly learned to substitute cotton for wool and by 1772, cotton had become a major crop in the Acadian Coast and Bayou Teche settlements. Cotton was processed into a rough fabric called cotonade, which was either used in its natural state, or dyed indigo blue or other colors. The cotonade was fashioned into trousers, shirts and blouses, garde-soleils (sun bonnets), carmagnolles (short decorted vests), dresses and floor length skirts. Woollen stockings, worn in Acadia, was almost completely replaced by the lighter cotonade counterparts.

Acadian footwear changed very little, except that the sabots, or wooden shoes, worn in Acadia, when working on the dikes and in boats. Sabots were made of willow, and proved impractical in Louisiana, and were quickly abandoned in the areas not subjected to regular flooding. By the early 19^th century, sabots were only found in the flood prone LaFourche valley settlements. In fact during the winter months, both men and women wore moccasins, as they had done in Acadia. But, in the warmer months, men, women and children went bare foot, even to dances. Professionally crafted leather shoes and silver buckles were quite uncommon among the Louisiana Acadians.

At the time of the American Revolution the typical Acadian wardrobe was as follows: Men commonly wore collarless loose fitting cotonade shirts, usually undyed or dyed white. Their knee length breeches were usually dyed indigo blue. Men usually went barefoot, except for formal occasions and during cold winter months, when their feet and calves were sheathed in cotton stockings and leather moccasins. Acadian women generally wore ankle length, stripped cotonade skirts, cotton corsets and decorative vests above them. Like their husbands, they wore cotton stockings and moccasins, only in inclement weather.

Because the making of the Acadian clothes was quite laborious and tedious, garments were worn until they literally disintegrated, as evidenced in their estates where they were sometimes referred to as either mauvaises (tattered) or usees (Threadbare) (Carl Brasseau - Founding of New Acadia, p. 136 - 139)

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