Sport or Gym Costume c. 1890

“Sportswear” at the end of the nineteenth century was a term applied only to clothing designed for athletic purposes, the playing of sports popular at the time including tennis, golf, bicycling, bathing (what we now call swimming), ice-skating, yachting, and hunting.

Later, in the early twentieth century, it became associated with spectators at sports events and then expanded to include simple, tailored clothing which preserved the informal qualities of athletic attire.

Post WWII, sportswear became synonymous with casual wear worn at any time of the day, and is considered a uniquely American contribution to the fashion industry.

Young man’s bicycling costume c. 1900
The Ohio State University
Photos by Kevin Fitzsimons

This exhibition, primarily of clothing from the late 19^th century through the 21^st century, explores the intersection of sports and fashion and how each influenced the other over the past 150 years. Full skirted bathing costumes and gym suits of the late 19^th century reflect the fashion of their time, but evolved into more streamlined functional forms as women became more active in the early 20^th century and beyond. When evening gowns of the 1930s had low back necklines, swimsuits had to follow suit, or was it the other way around? Was it the low-back swimsuits that influenced the low-back evening dresses?

September 20, 2018 – April 26, 2019

See exhibit installation images

George Moutard Woodward 1801 cartoon on Fashion from Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum

1800-1810 cotton apron-front dress

Cartoons have ridiculed and satirized fashion’s trends and fads and some of its more extreme styles for centuries, from editorial pages to popular comic strips. In partnership with the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum, this exhibition highlights select fads, trends, and innovations from the 19th century through the 1970s, pairing examples of the clothing itself with the comic strips, cartoons, paper-dolls, and comic books in which these styles appeared. The exhibit opened November 4, 2017 at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum and ran through April 21, 2018.

September 14 – December 15, 2017 and January 16 – April 28, 2018

(closed Spring Break March 10-17, 2018)

This exhibition celebrates the fashion arts of Christian Dior in recognition of the 70th anniversary of his post WWII “New Look”. Featured garments include ball gowns, daywear and suits exclusively from Ohio museums or worn by Ohio women. In addition to Diors from our collection, are evening gowns and day dresses worn by Elizabeth Parke Firestone of Akron from The Henry Ford Museum as well as the Western Reserve Historical Society, which is also lending day and evening wear belonging to Mary Peters Bolton from Lancaster and Cleveland. Kent State University Museum is also lending garments, and other Ohio women represented in the exhibition include Dorothy Peters from Lancaster and Marilyn Maxwell from Cincinnati among others. See exhibit installation images on our fashion2fiber website.

“Fanny” evening gown, 1953, worn by Elizabeth Parke Firestone. From the Collections of The Henry Ford, Dearborn, Michigan

Suit of Dorothy Peters c. 1950, Gift of Dorothy Peters

Silk day dress of Elizabeth Parke Firestone, 1953, on loan from Western Reserve Historical Society