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 Jantzen 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 investigates 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.
