The Dionne Quintuplets, the first identical quintuplets to survive infancy, wore these dresses for a CBC radio interview in 1940, when they were only six years old. These pretty pink dresses are in a style typical for little girls of the period, with generous smocking on the bodice, embroidered collars, puffy sleeves and piped seams. The dresses recall a period in Canadian history when the quintuplet girls, Marie, Yvonne, Émilie, Cécile, and Annette, captivated and enthralled a public anxious for something novel and uplifting. They became a centerpiece during the Great Depression, garnering massive amounts of media attention. Four months after their birth, Ontario made the girls wards of the state, and built a nursery called ‘Quintland,’ with an observation gallery for millions of tourists to see the quintuplets at play. The significance of the birth of these quintuplets is magnified by the fact that they were born to a humble French-Canadian farm family in rural Ontario. The delicate dresses remind us of the rags-to-riches story of the family, but also, the frailty of Quints’ legacy. In 1998, after a long period of negotiation, the remaining sisters received a monetary settlement from the Ontario government for what they justifiably perceived as the exploitation of their rights as individuals for material gain.

Wes Colclough