{"id":291899,"date":"2025-10-10T12:11:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-10T12:11:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/291899\/"},"modified":"2025-10-10T12:11:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T12:11:13","slug":"formal-fashion-at-the-supreme-court-modernizes-as-justices-don-new-black-robes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/291899\/","title":{"rendered":"Formal fashion at the Supreme Court modernizes as justices don new black robes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

From left: Supreme Court of Canada Justices Malcolm Row, Michelle O’Bonsawin, Andromache Karakatsanis, Nicholas Kasirer, Richard Wagner, Mahmud Jamal, Suzanne Cote, Mary T. Moreau and Sheilah L. Martin wear their new robes in the Judges’ Conference Room in Ottawa on Monday.Sean Kilpatrick\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

For 150 years, judges of the Supreme Court of Canada<\/a> have donned distinctive red robes trimmed with white fur \u2013 a judicial fashion whose earliest threads stretch back through centuries of British history to the reign of King Edward III in the 1300s.<\/p>\n

But that changed this week. As part of the Supreme Court\u2019s 150th anniversary this year, Chief Justice Richard Wagner and his colleagues on the country\u2019s apex court debuted a new formal fashion for special occasions. The nine justices entered the courtroom in Ottawa<\/a> on Monday in black silk robes, trimmed with two vertical bands of red. <\/p>\n

Chief Justice Wagner called the robes distinctly Canadian. \u201cThey have a modern and simple design,\u201d he said at the ceremonial opening of the judicial year, which begins with a fall session and concludes in the spring.<\/p>\n

The old ceremonial red robes, worn a handful of times a year, weren\u2019t exactly lauded and some of those who took notice dubbed them \u201cSanta robes\u201d for their resemblance to the sartorial preferences of the North Pole\u2019s most famous resident.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Canada’s Supreme Court Justices wear the old red and white robes in 2024.BLAIR GABLE\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Yet reviews of the new outfits have been mixed. Change, as always, can be jarring.<\/p>\n

Traditionalists expressed umbrage. There were declarations of the court turning its back on history. \u201cWith the liquidation of another tradition, Canada becomes blander,\u201d Riley Donovan, editor of the Dominion Review, posted on social media.<\/p>\n

Not everyone\u2019s a hater. One leading adjudicator of modern fashion, who often wields cutting judgments, chuckled at the switch from Santa to something more modern. Derek Guy, known online as @dieworkwear, opined: \u201ca war on Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the old red robes seemed like a British common-law tradition bestowed on Canada never to be altered, judicial fashion has cautiously changed through the centuries. For everyday work, judges in Britain, Canada and elsewhere have long worn straightforward black robes, with the business attire of the day underneath.<\/p>\n

At the Supreme Court of Canada, judges and lawyers disagree over what works better: arguments in person, or on Zoom<\/a><\/p>\n

In Britain, some top judges since the 1600s on ceremonial occasions have worn black robes of silk damask with gold lace. This includes the current Supreme Court. Judges on the top courts in New Zealand in 2017 adopted new black robes to reflect local history and tradition.<\/p>\n

Mr. Guy in an interview spoke of how formal wear evolves. The present is informed by the past. The Santa Claus impression is not a good look, he said, and clothing fails to communicate if it requires an involved explanation of the past. He said the new black robes make sense.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt signals seriousness,\u201d Mr. Guy said.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The old ceremonial red robes were only worn a handful of times a year.Adrian Wyld\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

The old red robes were never especially popular among the nine people who had to shoulder the hot and heavy garments.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery, very, very heavy,\u201d former justice Frank Iacobucci, who served on the Supreme Court from 1991 through 2004, said in 2020. Justice Andromache Karakatsanis, named to the court in 2011, was asked in 2016 what it was like to wear the red robes. \u201cAwful,\u201d she said, laughing.<\/p>\n

Modernizing the court\u2019s ceremonial robes was assigned to Les Rabat-Joies, a tailor of legal attire based in Saguenay, Que. They worked with Supreme Court justices Suzanne C\u00f4t\u00e9 and Michelle O\u2019Bonsawin, along with registrar Chantal Carbonneau.<\/p>\n

The aims ranged from style and comfort to expressions of dignity and authority. The Chief Justice granted final approvals as the design progressed. The new robes may appear plain, but up close one can see how they are meticulously crafted, with detailed embroidery, each requiring dozens of hours of work.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about how tradition and modernity can co-exist,\u201d said Romane Le Gallou, owner of Les Rabat-Joies. \u201cThe Chief Justice said he wanted the robes to represent Canadian justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Opinion: It\u2019s time to let lawyers come back to the Supreme Court of Canada<\/a><\/p>\n

Critics of Chief Justice Wagner have taken issue with departures from traditions, from his annual press conferences to the new robes. Such changes are doubtlessly part of his focus in the years since he was promoted to the top judicial job in Canada in late 2017, after being named to the court in 2012.<\/p>\n

More change is coming.<\/p>\n

In 2021, the Governor-General issued new heraldic emblems to the Supreme Court: a flag, a stylized badge and a SC insignia. These are reflected in the embroidery of the new robes.<\/p>\n

Next year, a renovation at the old courthouse in Ottawa begins. The Royal Coat of Arms has long hung above the courtroom bench. In another departure from tradition, the coat of arms, whose history goes back to 1921, is being replaced.<\/p>\n

The courtroom at a new but temporary facility across the street in Ottawa, as well as eventually in the renovated old courtroom, will feature the Supreme Court\u2019s four-year-old stylized badge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: From left: Supreme Court of Canada Justices Malcolm Row, Michelle O’Bonsawin, Andromache Karakatsanis,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":291900,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2148,2138,671,104,2132,692,2147,2131,2143,2144,2140,2133,2130,79,407,746,2142,2137,2159,2134,2135,454,2139,1165,728,2149,108,2154,2155,50,2157,2152,2156,2150,2153,2136,85,2146,80,2145,2151,1458,158,1164,2141,1154,107,2158],"class_list":{"0":"post-291899","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-canada","15":"tag-canada-news","16":"tag-canada-sports","17":"tag-canada-sports-news","18":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","19":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","20":"tag-canadian-news","21":"tag-economy","22":"tag-education","23":"tag-environment","24":"tag-federal-government","25":"tag-foreign-news","26":"tag-globe-and-mail","27":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","29":"tag-government","30":"tag-life-news","31":"tag-lifestyle","32":"tag-local-news","33":"tag-manitoba","34":"tag-national-news","35":"tag-new-brunswick","36":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","37":"tag-news","38":"tag-northwest-territories","39":"tag-nova-scotia","40":"tag-nunavut","41":"tag-ontario","42":"tag-pei","43":"tag-photos","44":"tag-political-news","45":"tag-political-opinion","46":"tag-politics","47":"tag-politics-news","48":"tag-quebec","49":"tag-sports-news","50":"tag-technology","51":"tag-travel","52":"tag-trudeau","53":"tag-us-news","54":"tag-world-news","55":"tag-yukon"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}