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Upcoming Exhibit
From Sportswear To Streetwear
August 16 - November 2, 2008
Goldstein Museum Gallery, St. Paul Campus
Curators:
Dolores DeFore, Volunteer Curatorial Specialist in Fashion; Marilyn DeLong, Associate Dean for Research and Outreach; Kelly Gage, Graduate Student in Apparel Studies; Gloria Hogan, Consultant; Erin Jedlicka, Graduate Student in Apparel Studies
Opening Reception
August 15, 2008, 7-9pm
Goldstein Museum, McNeal Hall
Party for MN Fashion Week
September 19, 2008
Goldstein Museum, McNeal Hall
Symposium
October 10, 2008, 4-6pm, McNeal Auditorium
Keynote address from Dr. Patricia Campbell Warner, Professor emerita, history of dress, Department of Theater, University of Massachusetts Amherst. Warner is the author of When the Girls Came Out to Play: The Birth of American Sportswear. She will explore this American innovation in dress in support of the exhibition. Other speakers will include Apparel Studies graduate students Kelly Gage, Joyce Heckman, Erin Jedlicka, and Monica Sklar
Click here to download a flyer about the three-day, 1 credit course being offered by Dr. Patricia Campbell Warner about Sportwear
Exhibition Description
The influence of sportswear on contemporary American Fashion has been profound-- but this was not always so. In the 19th century men and women adapted their public dress in minor ways to enable playing in such participative social sports as croquet and lawn tennis. With the advent of the bicycle in the late l800s, men and women found riding a bicycle involved physical movements that required adaptation and redesign of clothing for sport.
Public sports for both men and women grew in categories that involved great physical movement and special clothing was designed for each sport, including skiing, swimming, baseball, biking, and racing. Consequently, the influence came full circle and the specification of dress for sport and sportswear began to influence street-wear. This mutual influence shifts from sportswear to streetwear and back again, leaving viewers to ask: Is it sportswear or streetwear?
American dress is marked by the influence of sportswear. Ralph Lauren states, "Americans are the leaders because we know how to do sportswear better here than anywhere else (Agins, T. /The End of Fashion/, p.85)." Contemporary styles such as fashion tennis shoes, velour sweatsuits and racing shorts are easily identifiable examples of the influence of sportswear.
Though these items are instantly recognizable as based on sportswear, no one would try to play basketball or tennis, or run a marathon in such a fashion. This dichotomy between everyday, street clothing and their sports precedent is a phenomenon of the twentieth century with children's sailor suits, stirrup ski pants, and Members Only baseball jackets. It continues into the twenty-first century with the popularity of bowling shoes and rugby shirts.
From Sportswear to Streetwear: American Innovation will feature garments from the Goldstein’s own collection. This will include designer and and brands such as
Ralph Lauren, Hermes, Gucci, Valentino, Lilly Pulitzer, Juicy Couture and Converse. The exhibition will also show the migration of specialty fabrics such as quik-dri and stretch, and styles such as golf shirts, ski pants, equestrian-wear, and athletic shoes into non-sport casual dress.
Shoes: 1915-1929 Gift of the Staeyart, Van Duesen Estate, Rand Family Sweater: 1929 Gift of Pamela Canning
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The similarities between apparel for sport or fashion can be quite striking, as these equestrian and equestrian influenced item- reveal.
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