Sporting Fashion: Outdoor Girls 1800 to 1960

Discover how the designers of women's sporting attire navigated the worlds of fashion, function, and propriety, from the beginning of the 19th century to 1960.

This book offers a stunning visual record of the evolution of women's sporting attire over nearly two centuries. With selections from Keds, Pendleton, and Spalding and garments by Coco Chanel, Claire McCardell, and Jean Patou, among many others, it features familiar names in fashion, as well as significant rediscoveries. At the intersection of the history of fashion and feminism, Sporting Fashion highlights the extraordinary impact of new technologies and evolving social mores on women's clothing for sport. It explores how the basic forms of women's sportswear we know today--from swimsuits to sneakers--were developed during a time when women were achieving more freedom. Full color illustrations of sport and leisure ensembles are included, along with magazine spreads and archival images.

In thematic sections, the authors examine the ways women entered into the sporting world--from traveling to calisthenics, motorcycling to promenading. The book looks at examples of clothing that allowed women to walk freely and compete in sports previously restricted to men. It explores how designers reacted to and encouraged the growing acceptance of exposed skin at public beaches and pools--and how cold weather fashion made its way onto the slopes and ice. Never before have the garments that defined women's roles as both spectators and athletes been presented on this scale and in such detail.

Published with the American Federation of Arts and the FIDM Museum at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising/Los Angeles

The Costume Society of America is pleased to announce Kevin Jones and Christina Johnson as recipients of the 2022 CSA Millia Davenport Publications Award for their work titled Sporting Fashion: Outdoor Girls 1800-1960.


Author: Kevin L. Jones, Christina M. Johnson
Publisher: Prestel Publishing
Published: 03/09/2021
Pages: 344
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 5.55lbs
Size: 12.70h x 10.10w x 1.40d
ISBN: 9783791359434

About the Author
Kevin L. Jones is Curator at the FIDM Museum at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising/Los Angeles.

Christina M. Johnson is Associate Curator at the FIDM Museum at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising/Los Angeles.