La Fleur de Lyse  
Historical Patterns, Books and Lectures



Introduction


Suzanne Gousse has completed a baccalaureate in history at the University of Montreal. She is now back to get a masters degree in history under the direction of Thomas Wien and John A. Dickinson. She was introduced to "reenactment" and "living history" at the end of the 1980's. This hobby of reenactment gathers thousands of Americans and Europeans and a few hundreds of them have a passion for the French in North America. These living historians have a need for costumes or clothing because getting appropriately dressed is the first step to really travel in time. From 1991 until 2001, she has made clothing for historical sites and museums but also for American and Canadian reenactors of the French and Indian War period.

Suzanne first studied fashion design and haute-couture and worked for theatre costume shops in the past.  Since the year 2000, she had developped a collection of historical patterns  with the help of Evelyne Bouchard who has been her assitant for a few years.  Suzanne has also invested in publishing her brother's François series of books for military re-enactors. She also meets with students and members of historical societies to talk about the history of the 18th century Canadiens as seen through their dress.

When Suzanne Gousse decided to recreate 18th century Canadian clothing, she did not foresee the task that was awaiting her.  She discovered that sources were scarce and that no garments from that period had survived in Canada. There is a also paucity of pictorial material from Canada for that specific period. She worked hard and came out with a picture that was somewhat different from what most people assumed a few years ago.

Suzanne is co-author and publisher of «Lexique illustré du costume en Nouvelle-France: 1740-1760» published in 1995, after three years of research and to address the many questions generated by her way of recreating mid-18th century Canadian costumes. In 1997, she published an English version: «Costume in New France from 1740 to 1760: A Visual Dictionary». The English version  was reprinted in January 1999 with a new cover. This edition is still available.

Since 1991, people who came to her for historical reproductions were individuals as well as museums curators and historic sites managers, volunteers as well as professionnals. She collaborated with TV series and with theatres, mainly to produce 18th century military uniforms.
 
Suzanne is also co-founder of Association d'histoire vivante Quebec-Canada, a living history and reenacting group.

NEWS! NEWS! NEWS!

SUZANNE GOUSSE DOES NOT OFFER DRESSMAKING AND TAILORING SERVICES ANYMORE.
SEE THE PATTERN COLLECTIONS DEVELOPPED WITH THE HELP OF EVELYNE BOUCHARD, 12th CENTURY SPECIALIST, AND CREATE YOUR OWN COSTUME FROM NOUVELLE-FRANCE OR THE MEDIEVAL TIMES.


 
 

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