Almost a year before the 2024 Olympic Games, the capital’s museums are interested in sport in many ways. This Friday, the Galliera Palacethe Fashion Museum of the City of Paris, has launched fashion in motion, a collections exhibition around the history of clothing and sports practice. “The idea was to go beyond this relationship between fashion and sport and to be more broadly in the movement. The whole route is a confrontation of everyday clothes and those dedicated to physical activity, ”explained to the press Marie-Laure Gutton, in charge of this exhibition, during a small guided tour on Wednesday.
Concretely, fashion in motion presents around 200 works, outfits, accessories or even commercial products, ranging from the 18th century to the present day, mostly from the museum’s collections. “This allowed us to take out of our reserves objects that we did not necessarily have the possibility of showing on the other themes”, specifies the curator.
The journey tells how the development of physical activities such as swimming or cycling have changed clothing and in particular have gradually liberated the female body. The opportunity to discover the first women’s hiking outfit (or almost), 19th century “bathing suits”, the ancestor of the banana bag, or even the first collaborations between brands and athletes. 20 minutes offers you an overview of some nuggets of the exhibition.
Walking and jogging outfits
What could be simpler today than putting on a comfortable outfit and a good pair of shoes to go for a walk in the forest on a beautiful spring Sunday. But in the 19th century, it was not the same lemonade, and even less so for women, their corseted busts and their multiple petticoats. However, outdoor physical activities are developing, encouraged by the hygienist policies of the time. Thanks to the development of the rail network, ladies from high society can now also get some fresh air in the countryside or on the Normandy coast. Galliera is thus exhibiting a “walking costume” from the late 1860s adapted to this activity. A system of small zippers makes it possible to raise the height of the skirt by a few centimeters and to leave with peace of mind on an excursion, with pepouze ankles and without risk of getting dirty. “And as soon as they come back to town, we release everything and find a completely decent outfit,” says Marie-Laure Gutton.
A few decades later, in the 1910s, it was active walking, “jogging”, which was in vogue. Here again, women’s clothing evolves, drawing inspiration from men’s tailoring, it becomes lighter and less constraining. Evidenced by a page of a May 1914 issue of the magazine female where illustrations depict women delighted to stretch their legs. “The tailor, well suited to the demands of our modern existence, must synthesize the fashion of our time when life is active, hectic, where we have a taste for sport and fast travel”, is it written in the magazine . In terms of endurance, walking is somewhat hampered by wearing heeled shoes, we are still a long way from air-cushioned soles.
The panty revolution (and scandal)
Back to the beginning of the 20th century when a small revolution made a lot of noise: the panties. Since the 1970s, the practice of cycling has enjoyed growing success, so much so that in 1880 the world velocipede championship was born. Women also get into it, but there again, it’s not easy to roll around with a free spirit with a very heavy and cumbersome skirt. “They are going to get an element of the male wardrobe, the pants and the panties [bouffante], for the practice of this sport, explains the exhibition curator. The use of bifid, two-piece clothing is going to create incredible societal uproar.”
The Faculty of Medicine itself protests against this physical practice which it considers to be a danger for the fertility of women… “What poses a problem with the use of these panties is that there is a kind of confusion of genres all of a sudden, adds Marie-Laure Gutton. And at the same time, from the female point of view, it is a real claim to the evolution of clothing and the practice of sport. »
The Decathlons and Go Sports of yesteryear?
From the 19th century, activities such as horse-riding or motorsport created vocations but also new needs in terms of accessories. This is the case of Princess Murat, born Cécile Ney of Elchingen (1857-1960), great-granddaughter of Marshal Ney and passionate about driving. The fashion museum exhibits her leather glasses, fur mittens or even a lace headdress, which protect her from the weather and dust when she screeches the wheels of her car. So many accessories that the women and men of the elite obtained from the “equipment manufacturers” of the time, such as the British house of the Creed tailor. “At the end of the 19th century, beginning of the 20th century, we will no longer just be in a leisure practice but in sports performance. When you need to be efficient, you need your equipment and your clothes to be much more suitable”, notes the exhibition curator.
A little more accessible, the department stores, which hatched in the 19th century, also specialized and dedicated departments to sports practice. Like A la Belle Jardinière, a French brand. You don’t unearth a tent that throws itself into the air, a pair of running shoes or a full-face diving mask, but accessories for tennis or even a bathing suit, one of the exhibits. At the Bon Marché around 1910, there is this advertising fan which shows on each of its facets a woman overflowing with activities, hunting, golfing or horse riding.
The first collaborations between brands and athletes
The exhibition also highlights the 1930s and their collaborations between athletes and “brands”. This is the case of the tennis star of the time, Suzanne Lenglen, dressed by another star, couture this time, the couturier Jean Patou. She even becomes its ambassador. fashion in motion also exhibits the outfit so classy signed McGregor by American Don Budge, the first tennis player in history to win all four Grand Slam tournaments. The set consists of a wool knit cardigan jacket and cotton pants on which is written “McGregor designed by Don Budge”. We are probably very far from the current contracts between Djokovic and Lacoste or even Coco Gauff with New Balance, but it is clear that the collaboration is not new.