20th Century Sports Dress Fashion History
 Early in the 20th
century it was not considered important for women to win at competitive sports
and so clothes were not designed to give the movement that would allow them to
excel.
For golf women wore tailored blouses and skirts similar to clothing worn
for business and shown in the header.
By 1910 only golf allowed women to have expanding pleats down the sides
of their tweed jackets to prevent clothes tearing when they did a golf
swing. Even those pleats could not be decorative.
 Tweed was used in many sports and the
golf sweater made its way into fashion as the first casual garment.
Above outfits suitable for golf in 1903, 1929 and 1935.
Mass production techniques being applied more swiftly in
America, benefited sportswear for women and shorter hems were common on most
American sports skirts. By 1917 Vogue urged women to put their overskirts in a
knapsack once on a mountain slope and ski in their jodhpurs.
»
 By the 1920s women
wearing trousers had become an acceptable fashion. Workers in munitions
factories had worn trousers beneath their overalls and after The Great War they
kept trousers for private wear at home. Later when crepe pyjamas were worn
publicly at the seaside, trousers for women were a usual sight, but still quite
confined to beach and promenade areas.
Far right - Beach trousers with low back top
1930-31. These were a female version of Oxford bags.
Near right - Artificial silk crepe de chine or satin
pyjamas. Worn for sophisticated party or casual wear 1929.
 Women had worn long
skirts and restrictive clothing to play tennis until 1910. This fashion
plate left is dated 1895 and was typical 'sporty' dress for tennis. Note
the hats, tight sleeved jackets and heavy skirts. In 1922 Suzanne Lenglen shocked the world when she dressed for
tennis at Wimbledon wearing a short skirt.
 She abandoned the hat and also caused
a stir with her hair bandeau designed to enable her to actually see what was
going on. Such seriousness of purpose was unknown before. By 1930 a bare head
was acceptable for tennis playing.
Right - Alice Marble's shorts 1932. Even more shocking than Lenglen was Alice Marble who strode
onto court wearing white shorts in 1932. Both outfits were at the time
considered outrageous, but over the years other sports women have braved new
ground with more appropriate dress.
In 1947 Teddy Tingling influenced by Dior's New look began to
put femininity back into tennis wear and produced waffle pique flared dresses.
By 1949 Teddy Tingling designed lace trimmed knickers for Gussie Moran to wear at
Wimbledon. Practicality in sports clothes was set in the 1920s. Jean Patou
was revolutionary in shortening sports skirts and accustoming people to the idea
of suitability of purpose. You are reading an original 'Sport Fashion Clothing
1900 to 1960', fashion history article by Pauline Weston Thomas at
www.fashion-era.com ©. 
Skiing was the sport
of the thirties and clothes were designed for the slopes. The silhouette was
long and slender. Long Norwegian trousers with cuffed hems were worn with short
boxy jackets with wide shoulders that accommodated sweaters beneath them. White,
navy or bright trousers were most seen and at the same time a fashion for two
tone garments including gloves emerged. Lastex yarn began to be used in areas
where stretch was needed. Knitwear for skiing had fair isle patterns and motifs
illustrating skiers and skaters, trees and snowflakes. Sunbathing on the slopes became
normal and women began to wear swimsuits that had panels which could be rolled
down so they gained full sun exposure.
Ω
Trousers were not
thought acceptable everyday wear for sports until the mid thirties.
For skating a skirt a skirt was always a popular
choice as these illustrations of 1901, 1911 and 1934 show. By
1936 women began to wear slacks for all form of casual dress particularly in
America. But it took three decades for trousers to really gain mass interchangeability with the skirt in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
 By the late 30s women were participating in a wide range of
sports such as water skiing, golf, running, tennis, fishing, mountaineering,
shooting, archery, fencing, skating, as well as riding and cycling which were
still thought of as forms of transport. Slowly sportswear was adapting to meet the real needs of
active women. For tennis the correct wear was a shorts dress. For golf smart suede jackets in strong shades, slacks or sturdy
box pleated skirts or culottes were breaking barriers. For shooting and
fishing, pleated jackets, pleated skirts or culottes and Loden wool capes were brightened with Austrian style trim
and embroidery.
You are reading an original 'Sport Fashion Clothing 1900 to 1960',
fashion history article by Pauline Weston Thomas at
www.fashion-era.com ©.
 With Utility
restrictions on fabric, sportswear took a back seat. The major effect of the war
was that slacks became even more suitable wear for sports and that the colours
became sombre. Windcheaters and anoraks still retained prewar styles with close
fitting sleeves. Dungarees and overalls worn in mainstream war work of factory
and land girls led to the invention of salopettes. Mostly they were sleeveless
and front zipped all in one and like a siren suit, but sleeved versions existed.
The fabric used for outdoor sportswear was usually gabardine as it tended to
repel water on first contact.
Right - Women's wartime dungarees worn in
factories.
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Since ancient times men and women have worn garments that stretched simply by
the fact that they were knitted. Jersey was invented in the late Victorian
era in 1882 and by 1900 was made into breeches for riding. Lastex made from
rubber fibres was used for stockings and underwear in the 1930s.
After 1945 a whole new
range of synthetic fibres often best suited in the early days of production to
knitted fabrics were made into pullover dresses, underwear and gym tops. By the
mid sixties stretch garments became quite usual and the comfort factor of being
able to move with a garment didn't go unnoticed. The fifties saw revolutionary
changes in sports clothes much of it due to the earlier invention and new use of
synthetic fibres particularly nylon combined with practical techniques developed
in military clothing. For example hoods could be concealed in neck collars.
Pockets in jacket fronts were designed to store snack foods. Gloves had zip
pockets for ski passes. Elastic inserts in the sides of ski pants and stirrup
straps underfoot made for pull on, pull off clothes all features we expect
automatically today. Right - Windshirts for Skiwear 1947. Athletes adopted nylon
running shorts and cotton vests. Zip up windcheaters and anoraks were taken
onto the athletics and sports fields to keep off the chill, but often with odd
trouser bottoms. Thoughtful colour coordination only became a norm in the 1960s
when thick jersey cotton sweat shirting or nylon jersey track suits in colours like navy, bottle
green or grey were the forerunners of vibrantly coloured 80's nylon shell suits. Tennis whites became
available in a huge range of fashion styles and it was up to the individual to
make her choice as long as it was white and decent, the outfit could vary from
shorts and a top to a pretty flared dress with decorative hemline and frilled
knickers. Teddy Tingling continued to dominate tennis wear in the seventies and
eventually it became acceptable to wear coloured clothes to play in. You
are reading an original 'Sport Fashion Clothing 1900 to 1960', fashion
history article by Pauline Weston Thomas at
www.fashion-era.com ©.
Cycling, motorcycling and scooter riding were able to easily
adapt existing clothes. Denim Jeans, Capri pants and Bri-nylon stretch ski
stirrup pants were the narrower trousers women preferred for cycling.
 Motorcyclists adopted either the leather aviator's jackets or tweeds both
suitable for keeping out the wind. Vespa scooter owners also liked leather
jackets and jeans or black stretch pants, but suede was popular too, and towards
the late fifties often followed the beatnik look with a roll polo neck or cowl jumper. The only sport which
remained unaffected by changes was horse riding which stuck to the rigid hard hat,
jodhpurs, riding or hacking jacket or sometimes skirt.
Right - Riding costume 1890s.
See more riding
costume history and redingotes here.
Functionalism became strongly associated with sports clothes
in the 1950s. The clothes did a job and consumers noticed how useful the
features often were in everyday life. Hooded anoraks and enveloping parkas for wet weather were a
big feature of the early sixties, yet often go unrecorded. The greater availability of goods in the fifties
meant that consumers now made choices. Rigid sports uniforms were waning. Looks
were less important than staying warm, dry or cool and after 1960 huge strides
were made to produce clothing suitable for many sporting occasions. You
are reading an original 'Sport Fashion Clothing 1900 to 1960', fashion
history article by Pauline Weston Thomas at
www.fashion-era.com ©.
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