“Female cyclists were subjected to rocks, sticks and rude remarks, and denied entry to cafes and hotels”
A research project at Goldsmiths, University of London has been investigating – and recreating – the clothing inventions of female cyclists in late 19th- century Britain. Dr Kat Jungnickel (right), who led the project, explains more
What impact did the bicycle have on the lives of Victorian women?
In the late 19th century, middle and upper-class women – and men – enthusiastically took up this exciting new form of mobility. Prior to this, exercise was deemed unnecessary and even unhealthy for women, but little could stop women from cycling once they had experienced the unparalleled freedom promised by the bicycle. It enabled them to be in, and move through, public spaces in new ways – sometimes unchaperoned – at speed, at new times and in different places.
Women’s cycling raised issues, though. A female body on a bicycle – how it moved and in what ways it was dressed – swiftly sparked a public debate about the broader role of women in society.
How did society respondnd to female cyclists?
The growing popularity of sports and active lifestyles, particularly for women, helped catalyse changes in fashions. Some women adopted ‘rational dress’ – broadly recognised as a looser corset (or no corset) and a form of bloomers in place of the skirt or shortened skirt. Rational dress was safer and more comfortable for cycling but this radical change in fashion was socially divisive. Rationally dressed cyclists could elicit a range of responses from all classes of society – from verbal abuse to physical assault. Many were subjected to rocks, sticks and rude remarks, and denied entry into cafes and hotels.
How easy was it to cycle in long skirts?
Ordinary women’s fashions were vastly incompatible with the moving machinery of the bicycle. Newspapers regularly published gruesome accounts of women dying or becoming ddisfigured in cycling crashes due to their skirts and petti icoats becoming tangled in wh heels and pedals.
How H did inventors respond to women cycling?
Convertible cycle wear is a key theme in the patents I’ve studied. Inventors aimed a to create garments that did two things: operate as a form of cycle wear while still “giving the appearance of an ordinary skirt”. Pulley systems, button and loop mechanisms and rings and cords were among the technologies concealed in the infrastructure of skirts to enable wearers to secretly switch from street wear to safe and comfortable cycle wear when needed.
There was clearly a market for such garments. The Bygrave Convertible Skirt – an 1895 design patented by Alice Bygrave – was sold all over the UK, in America and even made its way to Australia.
Sadly, we’ve been unable to find surviving examples of any of these costumes. But by following the detailed step-by-step instructions in their patents, we’ve created a collection of garments inspired by five convertible cycling costumes. These designs reveal women’s ingenious responses – as inventors and designers – to social and physical restrictions, and the important roles women played in cycling cultures.