Today, women’s sportswear is designed for movement, comfort, fit and performance – and naturally, we all take it for granted. But only 100 years or so ago, things were very different for female sporting pioneers…
Until the beginning of the 20th century, competitive sport wasn’t considered important or seemly for women. And although all kinds of new sports started becoming fashionable in the 1880s, the formal dress styles of the day were far too restrictive to practice them comfortably.
Cycling, for example, had been introduced around 1880 and had become hugely popular by 1894. It was impossible to ride a bicycle in a trailing skirt and layers of petticoats, so something had to give. And it did. Bike-riding young women pioneered a more radical costume, including a divided skirt worn under a long coat, breeches beneath skirts, or bloomers and jackets.
These sensible and practical fashions appealed to many and the idea of appropriate clothing for safe movement during sporting activities started to catch on, completely redefining the late 19th century ideals of femininity. Strangely enough though, when …
