On Being Canadian
Plus: a fashion guide (yes, we do that too.)
Guess what, I’m not French. I’m Canadian.
You may not have realised it and that’s ok. It’s not something immediately obvious to the distant observer, for several reasons. But once you know, I’m told you can’t unsee it.
Of course I, like many Canadians, possess an uncanny long-range compatriot-identification radar. I can spot a random mom in a park in Paris and just know; hear someone presenting American television, or being interviewed on British radio and be entirely sure they are Canadian. It’s hard to describe: a faint difference in intonation or specific mannerisms. But also a barely-perceivable variance in how one interacts with the outside world. I’ll see one, and know instantly. Bam. One of us. One of us! Canadian.
The thing is, we’re everywhere.
Heads down, about our business, all over. There’s a hilarious episode of This American Life called ‘Who’s Canadian’ from like 20 years ago about this — the OG podcast by the way, presented by the inimitable Ira Glass, and one I hope people still listen to. “It isn't just that there are Canadians among us,” says Glass at the top of the show, “it's that they're at the very epicentre of our culture. It's the guy who created Saturday Night Live and Jim Carrey and Michael J. Fox. It's Mike Myers and the blond from Baywatch, Pamela Anderson Lee, and the director of the Terminator films, James Cameron. It's Matthew Perry and Jason Priestley, Alanis Morissette and Celine Dion, and the bassist in Courtney Love's band, Hole.” (Again, this was twenty years ago, though Margaret Atwood, Neil Young, Christopher Plummer and Kim Catrall should already have been on his list. Ok, I’ll stop.)
And I’ll stop trying to explain the minutia of how we spot one another. It’s quite instinctive really. Maybe, just maybe, it’s down to us having our own culture after all (rather than just simply being not American).
What we don’t have are identifiable physical traits —our ancestors are from bloody everywhere and we’re proud of it —or, where our English-speaking population is concerned, particularly pronounced accents. Just subtle syllabic stress-differences and vowel pronunciations that only a fine-tuned anglophone ear would really pick up on. Certainly not a person for whom English is their second language. Plus in French I just sound neutrally-vaguely “anglo-saxonne” having missed out on the quebecois accent (I’m not actually from Quebec, unlike the glorious Charlotte Le Bon.) Therefore in Paris, I have to go about telling people I’m Canadian if I want them to know. I’ve been doing this a lot lately.
A taxi driver or say, bar tender, will then immediately launch into the a line of questioning about why in God’s name I would ever choose to live in Paris rather than Canada. It is humbling to hear what a life goal, nay, fantasy Canada is for so many, though such chats mostly make me feel like a spoilt brat. The easiest answer is to say I work in fashion and therefore there’s more work here in Paris. “Ah yes”, they’ll answer politely, “I hadn’t thought of that, but I guess that makes sense”. (The honest truth is more complicated that —that I am the very picture of cultural expatriate privilege, having chosen my location based on a combination of the man I happened to meet and fall in love with while having the opportunity to live abroad, and the place I find most relevant to my own specific personality — but the work thing is not untrue.)
That said, it’s not like I want to be French. I love France. I even love the French. But my identity is Canadian (or British-Canadian I suppose, given my Dad’s British passport and my many formative years in the UK.) But I am firmly, proudly Canadian, to the extent that I haven’t gotten around to a French passport and am not sure I ever will.
I asked a few friends in Paris —some French, some American— for the adjective they’d most use to describe Canadians as a general population (for the purposes of this piece but also because I was curious). The answer I got most often was “modest” (or synonyms of). This was meant as a compliment but to me it raises the prolonged issue of us not doing enough to toot our own horn.
So, at this specific moment in time and in the general interest of never forgetting where you came from, I'm taking a moment to get back in touch with my roots, Zoolander style. Plus, given you’ve probably come here for fashion and are wondering why I’m banging on about myself for so long, I’m going to toot the horn of some of my favourite Canadian designers and brands, and the pieces I have my eye on now.
Next time you hear me speak, maybe you’ll pick up on a faint hint of a lilt. Piper no! Just a faint one. I’ll be working hard to maintain it, despite having lived abroad for over half my life now.
Anyway, here are my Can-fan crushes:
Toronto cool-girls Chloe and Parris Gordon make effortlessly-snazzy going out wear.
Everyday essentials for quietly luxuriant minimalists. So. Wearable.
THE Canadian jewellery brand. The price is right and they have everything for everyone, whatever your taste or earlobe shape (mine are weird -these cover them.)
Just lovely. Sigh.
Canadians are really good at outerwear, surprise surprise.
I am hankering after The Boomerang Trench from Luxton.
See Mackage also, for winter. Featuring coats that will keep you warm in temperatures down to -40. Yes, you read that right.
Silk Laundry
Gorgeous super-sustainable silk brand. I’m a particular fan of the Golden Ratio collection (click for bunnies-the only way to make me love math.)
Not all cardigans are created equal…
ROOTS (Always).
OK so in the 1970s my friend’s incredibly cool/ handsome/ stylish dad and his BFF founded Roots. Today it’s a fully-fledged part of our cultural iconography. They had met at summer camp in the natural oasis that is Algonquin Park, where their families still spend summers. Roots makes the kind of sturdy-cool clothes you’d want to wear in Algonquin but manage to look equally good in the city.
Basically, Roots is the ultimate lifestyle brand. What you have to understand is summer camp —and summers on the lake in general— are like a religion for us. When I style a Roots sweatshirt with denim and loafers in Paris, it feels like a snuggly hug from an old camp friend. My own childhood summers on Lake Memprhemagog come flashing back when I catch myself in the mirror.
I will also never get over my passion for their vintage varsity jackets and think it may finally be time to invest in one.
Montreal-born, London-based Erdem Moralıoğlu holds a longstanding place as one of the most revered, inspired and detail-oriented designers at LFW. I went to see his AW25 collection the other day and can’t stop picturing those Kaye Donachie faces fluttering in the wind. Desperate to wear the strapless one to an upcoming wedding…
DSquared: Not my bag aesthetically but according to Tagwalk’s biannual fashion week data roundup, their most recent 30-year anniversary show —featuring everyone from Doechii, to JT to Naomi Campbell (yes, I had to look the first two up) — has been causing a serious stir online. 30 years! Good on Dean and Dan eh?
SSense this is not a brand but an entire multibrand e-commerce platform (empire) with the wittiest, most compelling marketing strategy I’ve ever come across. In fact, Ssense’s Instagram is tonally the most Canadian thing I’ve seen in high fashion. It may be a shop but I read it like a (very punny) magazine.
PS —let me know if you want a Canadian travel guide in the coming months!
Next week: back to Paris tips for paid subscribers.
So happy to have stumbled upon this! Canadian living in NYC - we always joke down here that the Canadians just tend to find each other. I have always been so invested in supporting Canadian retail and wrote an article sharing some of my favourite brands just a few weeks prior. Picked up a few new ones from your list that I will be adding to my wish list.
Fellow Canadian here living in the US. The way people here always describe me is polite. And whenever I see someone wearing a Roots t-shirt here in California (which doesn’t happen often) I get really excited.