The Sunday Magazine

Politics, panache and pillbox hats - the fashion of Expo 67

50 years ago, Canada marked its arrival on the world stage with a kitchy, showy, giant World's Fair in Montreal. Alisa Siegel's documentary, "Chic et Choc", takes us on a guided tour of the fair through the lens of fashion. That summer marked a political awakening for many Canadians, and clothes were part of the story.
(Library and Archives Canada)

The uniforms were beautifully cut and powder blue. The gloves were white.

And the hats? The tri-coloured pillboxes were meant to stand out in the huge crowds that came to Expo 67 in Montreal, and to allow people to spot the exuberant, helpful young women who were cast as the fair's official guides and Canada's ambassadors to the world. 

Miami Promotion for Expo 67 (City of Montreal Archives. Creative Commons license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Ann Vroom

7 years ago
Duration 0:44
Ann Vroom

More than 50 million people made the pilgrimage to Montreal  - to what is considered the most successful World's Fair in history.

Ninety pavilions celebrated provinces, nations, themes and industries. Visitors had their special Expo passports stamped at each, and could feel as if they had travelled the world in a day.

Hostess ad for Expo 67 (City of Montreal Archives. Creative Commons license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Fashion didn't have its own dedicated pavilion, but it was everywhere at Expo. In the giant sunglasses and elegant scarves, the pop-art psychedelic dresses and blue denim jeans worn by visitors. On the models roller-skating down the runways of the many pavilions. And most of all, in the designer-made hostess uniforms. 

Hostess of the Kaleidoscope at Expo 67. © Government of Canada. Reproduce with permission of Library and Archives Canada (2016). Source: Library and Archives Canada / Canadian Corporation for the 1967 World Exhibition fonds/e000996021

Daniele Touchette

7 years ago
Duration 0:29
Daniele Touchette

This was Montreal, of course, and design really mattered.

Many of the clothes that helped define Expo ended up in the vaults of Montreal's McCord Museum of Canadian History. Now, for the first time in half a century, the garments can be seen in an exhibit that shines a light on that remarkable time through the lens of fashion.

Alisa Siegel takes us down the Expo runway. Her documentary is called "Chic et Choc."

Click 'listen' above to hear the documentary.