Remembrance · Style by Sam

The poppy: how to wear it on a suit, a coat and a shirt, 24 October to 11 November

Updated October 2026 · Sam’s Menswear editorial team

A line drawing in white on black of the front of a suit jacket, its lapels and buttons, with a single red poppy with a black centre on the wearer's left lapel — Drawn for this guide: the left lapel, over the heart.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow. A Canadian wrote that line. Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae, a doctor from Guelph, composed the poem in the spring of 1915, after the Second Battle of Ypres. More than a century later the red poppy is the most widely worn symbol in this country. Millions of Canadians pin one on every autumn for the men and women who served, and for those who did not come home.

It is a small thing to wear and a large thing to wear properly. This guide covers where it goes on the clothes a Canadian actually wears in November.

Twelve seconds. Lest we forget.

The dates have changed

From 2026, the Royal Canadian Legion’s National Poppy Campaign runs from 24 October to 11 November every year. It used to begin on the last Friday of October; in 2025 that was 31 October. The Department of National Defence, announcing the change to the Canadian Armed Forces, says the fixed start date is meant to give a consistent, predictable period each year. In 2026 it is nineteen days, six more than the old rule would have given.

Saturday 24 October: the campaign begins.
Wednesday 11 November: Remembrance Day. The country falls silent at eleven o’clock.

Where it goes

The Legion is plain about it: “The Poppy should be worn with respect on the left side, over the heart.”

On a suit or a sports jacket: the left lapel, where it sits over the heart. On a double-breasted jacket it is still the left lapel.
On a shirt, a sweater or anything without a lapel: Veterans Affairs Canada says to wear it as close to the heart as possible.
On an overcoat: the Legion’s own manual for its members puts the poppy on the left side of the outer garment, close to the heart, in bad weather. The same logic serves everyone. If your coat is buttoned over your suit on the walk to the cenotaph, the poppy belongs on the coat, not hidden underneath it. On a coat with lapels, that means the left lapel.

Two things the Legion asks:

Nothing should obstruct it. No pin, badge or flag should cover the poppy. The Legion sells its own black-centre pin, which replaces the felt centre and the straight pin, for anyone who keeps losing theirs.
It is your choice, and a respectful one. The Legion says how a person wears a poppy is always individual. Wear it with care, and that is enough.

Taking it off

There is no deadline. The poppy may be worn through the whole Remembrance period, including the evening of 11 November. Many people remove theirs at the end of the ceremony and lay it on the cenotaph or a wreath, a tradition seen at the National War Memorial in Ottawa, where thousands are placed on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

A poppy that is taken off should be kept or disposed of respectfully, and one that falls should be picked up. The Legion says wearing a poppy at other times of year is not inappropriate either. It encourages one at veterans’ funerals and at commemorations such as the anniversary of Vimy Ridge.

Dressing for the day itself

Remembrance Day services in Toronto and across the GTA are held outdoors, in November, standing still. Toronto Pearson’s November mean temperature is 4.1°C, and half of November’s nights fall below freezing. The cenotaph at eleven in the morning is colder than the walk to it.

What has always been worn is the plainest thing you own that is properly dark: a navy or charcoal suit, a white shirt, a dark tie, polished black shoes, and a wool overcoat over all of it, with the poppy on the outside. Nobody at a cenotaph is looking at your clothes. They should simply be correct and quiet. Overcoat by 16 October →

Where this comes from

How to wear the poppy: the Royal Canadian Legion’s own guidance on its website, quoted above.
No lapel: Veterans Affairs Canada’s guidance.
The overcoat: the Legion’s Ritual, Awards and Protocol Manual, written for members in Legion dress.
The 2026 dates: the Legion’s campaign page and the Department of National Defence’s directive of 25 September 2026.

The Legion’s poppy funds go to support veterans and their families. If you can, give when you take one.

We will remember them.