Sporting Fashion: Outdoor Girls 1800 to 1960

October 14, 2023–January 14, 2024 | Fifth Third Gallery, Sinton Gallery, and Collection Galleries

Sporting Fashion: Outdoor Girls 1800 to 1960 explores women’s ongoing negotiation of the demands of fashion, function, and feminine decorum. It is the first exhibition to consider the evolution of women’s sporting and leisure attire, revealing how clothing was designed to accommodate a variety of activities ranging from horseback riding to golfing to motorcycling. As both athletes and spectators, the innovative and stylish attire women wore helped break down the barriers that had isolated them from the then-male-dominated sporting world.

Clothing for cycling, motoring, and flying—often adapted from men’s athletic gear—reveal how women navigated open roads and skies. Women's winter sports outfits show how apparel for pastimes such as skiing and skating protected female participants from the elements. Garments for swimming and tanning illustrate how designers and manufacturers responded to the increasing acceptance of exposed skin at beaches and pools.

Sporting Fashion is co-organized by the American Federation of Arts and the FIDM Museum at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, Los Angeles. Drawn from FIDM’s extensive collection, the exhibition features over 60 fully accessorized ensembles.

DAILY ADMISSION FREE SUNDAYS & MONDAYS 

General Admission includes access to the museum’s collection galleries located in the Taft historic house and our current special exhibitions. Save on admission when you buy online! Admission is free for Taft members, military, and youth (18 and under); $12 for adults; $10 for seniors. Non-members save $2 by purchasing tickets online. Sundays and Mondays are free! 

Are you a Cincinnati Museum Center Member? If so, you get FREE admission to museum’s collection galleries located in the Taft historic house and our special exhibition Sporting Fashion: Outdoor Girls 1800 to 1960 through January 14, 2024, as part of an exciting partnership for their exhibition Girlhood (It's Complicated).