Tag: sportswear

  • The Fit Flapper

    In 1924, American Vogue opined, “At the beginning of beauty lies the beautiful figure. For it is the single thing about a woman that comes nearest to dominating in the ensemble of her attractiveness.” It may not be able to be said more plainly the import placed upon a sleek physique during the 1920s, as…

  • Tennis in the ’20s

    Tennis in the ’20s

                       Three tennis looks, created by an unidentified French designer in 1926, the year women’s professional tennis was established. Material Mode has a quibble. After attending the exhibition The Rise of Sneaker Culture yesterday at the Brooklyn Museum, we left feeling that some of the exhibition labels…

  • Shooting for Ladies

    Shooting for Ladies

    Anyone who’s ever seen a James Bond movie knows that a lady in an evening gown is always sexier when wielding a gun—the same, it seems, was also true more than a century ago if we are to believe Walter Winans’ 1911 title Shooting for Ladies. Created with the intention of tutoring ladies in the…