"Sporting Life" Exhibition
The Museum at FIT
This event has ended.
Sporting Life explores the relationship between active sportswear and fashion over the past 150 years. Participation in sports, for recreation as well as competition, has increased dramatically since the late nineteenth century. The clothing worn for such pursuits has often been influenced by fashion—and vice versa. Featuring more than 100 garments, accessories, and textiles from the Museum’s permanent collection, the exhibition discusses changes in silhouette, construction, and technology that have improved the performance and aesthetic of active sportswear. In addition, active sportswear garments are juxtaposed with the fashionable ready-to-wear garments they have inspired.
Sporting Life has sections devoted to competitive sports—football, baseball, tennis and golf—as well as activities such as bicycling, horseback riding, motoring, skating, skiing, hunting, walking, swimming, and surfing. Highlights include women’s swimwear from the mid-nineteenth century and a woman’s bicycling ensemble with divided skirt, circa 1888. The exhibition also features fashion by designers such as Claire McCardell, Norma Kamali, Stephen Sprouse, and Isabel Toledo. Sporting Life is organized by Fred Dennis, Jennifer Farley, and Colleen Hill.
Media
Schedule
from May 25, 2011 to November 05, 2011
Artist(s)
Claire McCardell, Norma Kamali, Stephen Sprouse, Isabel Toledo