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.
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).
Enjoy special tours, behind-the-scenes insights, and more during this unique exhibition!
Select Sundays | October 14, 2023–January 14, 2024
2–2:45 p.m.
Enjoy docent-led tours of the Taft’s special exhibition, Sporting Fashion: Outdoor Girls 1800 to 1960.
Available with general admission reservations. Capacity is limited. Tours meet in Fifth Third Lobby. Includes admission to Sporting Fashion: Outdoor Girls 1800 to 1960 and the museum’s permanent collection galleries located in the Taft historic house.
Questions? Contact education@taftmuseum.org.
5 Ensembles You Won't Want to Miss in Sporting Fashion
Explore 5 ensembles from ice skating attire to tennis outfits in the exciting new exhibition Sporting Fashion: Outdoor Girls 1800 to 1960!
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Meet Ruth Law: “Queen of the Air”: Flying and Fashion in the 1910s
“Man can do nothing with an aeroplane that women cannot do equally as well,” Ruth Law declared shortly after her record-breaking non-stop flight from Chicago to New York in November 1916. Learn more about her life and impact as a female aviator in the 1910s.
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.
Available for purchase in the Museum Shop.
Members save 10 percent!
Sporting Fashion: Outdoor Girls 1800 to 1960 is co-organized by
Support for the national tour is provided by the AFA’s Gold Medal Circle: Elizabeth Belfer, Stephanie Borynack Clark, Ashleigh Fernandez, Lee White Galvis, Stephanie R. LaNasa, Merrill Mahan, Clare E. McKeon, Jennifer New, Angela Timashev, and Victoria E.Triplett.
Exhibition Support Generously Provided By
Ellen and George Rieveschl Endowment
Warrington Exhibition Endowment
Chellgren Family Endowment
Sallie Robinson Wadsworth Endowment for Exhibitions
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