La Mode

The Creoles dressed differently than the Anglos. In 1811 Henry M. Brackenridge penned one of the earliest accounts of French regional attire. It “was formerly extremely simple; the men wore a blanket coat of coarse cloth or coating, with a cape behind, which could be drawn over the head, from which circumstance it was called a capote. They wore a blue handkerchief on their heads; but no hats, or shoes, or stockings; moccasins, or the Indian sandals, were used by both sexes. The dress of the females was likewise simple, and the varieties of fashion few; though they were dressed in a much better taste than the other sex . . . . We still see a few of both sexes in their ancient habiliments: capots, moccasins, blue handkerchiefs on the head, a pipe in the mouth, and the hair tied up in a long queue.”