Misconceptions of Women and Pants in the 20th Century

Last month I attended a camera convention with a friend where we attended a class about cinemagraph's and how to make them. The instructor had a live model and backdrop so he could demonstrate the process from beginning to end, and it was really fun to see the process of making these moving photographs.

His set up was an Amelia Earhart theme with a vintage plane backdrop and the model wearing a leather jacket, helmet and a pair of tan slacks. It wasn't at all historically accurate, but it got the idea across

She was adjusting her clothes as she got in position for the photo and she made a remark about women's pants as she pulled them up higher to try and get her (low cut) pants to her waist. The remark she made was something about how pants were worn higher, and then she followed that with something along the lines of "pants were worn higher up because they didn't make them for women, so they didn't fit well." and "Women didn't wear pants back then."

Being a historical costumer and having recently researched women in aviation specifically, I wanted to scream.

"No! None of what you just said is true!"

But I sat still, cringing inside instead.

It got me thinking about women and pants and just how long we've been wearing them. I've assembled a collection of women in pants dating as far back as the Civil War in the 1860's, proving that average women did in fact wear pants.

Sears Catalog c. 1918 displaying an array of pants options for women.

Women in pants c. late 1920's 

Woman in trousers c. 1930's

Catalog displaying women's trousers from the 1940's

Ginger Rogers wearing a pair of trousers in the 1940's 

Dr. Mary Walker wearing pants in during the Civil War.

As you can see, women most certainly *did* wear pants in the first half of the 20th century, and no, they weren't men's pants.

I want to address a couple of misconceptions that were expressed by the model that day, and that I'm sure other's have thought too.

1. "Pants were worn higher because they didn't make pants for women."
Not true. They were worn higher because that's what the fashion was at the time, for both men and women. And just like men's pants, you could find women's pants in clothing stores and catalogs. Or, you could always make a pair yourself.

2. "They didn't make pants for women."
Also not true.  To continue off my first point, they most certainly did make pants for women, as is proved by the numerous catalogs for women's trousers throughout the 20th century (not to mention the endless photographs showing women wearing pants).

In Conclusion:
It was common for women to wear pants for sports and physical activities such as horseback riding, hiking, and flying. In the 30's, another style of pants called beach pajama's were common, and were a very wide leg trouser made from comfortable fabrics.

During WWII women began wearing denim trousers more as they entered the work field, as comfort and mobility were needed, though it wasn't until the 50's and 60's that it became common to wear pants on a daily basis.

This is only a brief explanation of women and when they started wearing pants, there's a lot more to it, but that's all I'm going to cover for now. Hopefully this clears up some misconceptions that some people may have.

Women in Aviation History

When I was researching clothing for my 1930's women's aviation (or Aviatrix) outfit earlier this year I started coming across information on women in the early days of aviation. Being the avid researcher I am, I continued reading as part of my costume research.

When I wear my Aviatrix outfit a lot of people ask me if (or just assume) I'm portraying Amelia Earhart,which some uninformed people then go on to refer to as the first female pilot, which she was not. Below is some of my research of some of the (actual) first female pilots to ever take to the skies.

c. 1944 Pilots at the four engine school at Lockbourne and members of a group of WASPS who were trained to ferry the B-17 Flying Fortresses.

Women first took the the air in 1784 when Elisabeth Thible became the first woman to fly in a hot air balloon. Almost 125 years later Therese Peltier circle the Military Square in Turin in an aircraft, becoming the first woman to fly solo in a heavier-than-air craft and the name Aviatrix, the contemporary term given to women who flew aircraft, was born.

In 1917, after the U.S. entered into WWI, Aviatrix Ruth Law fought for women to pilot aircraft in battle. When she was unsuccessful, she published an article in Air Travel magazine with the title "Let Women Fly!" The following are women, like Law, that continued to open a new territory for women, in the sky and on earth.

Amy Johnson

Amy Johnson was a British pilot and earned her license in 1929. She began flying long-distance record-breaking flights shortly after. She was the first woman to fly from London, England to Australia solo, the first (along with Jack Humphries as co-pilot) to fly from London to Moscow, and set speed records for flying to Japan, and Cape Town, South Africa. During WWII, she joined the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA), flying military planes to and from air bases, factories, and Maintenance Units.

On January 5th, 1941, she was flying from RAF Prestwick in Ayrshire to RAF Kidlington in Oxfordshire when she was forced to ditch her plane in the Thames Estuary. She was off course, and out of fuel when she bailed out. There has been some controversy surrounding her death, including a claim that she was the victim of a friendly fire incident, and the theory that she was on a top secret mission when she crashed. She was the first ATA fatality in the war and her body was never recovered.

Raymonde de Laroche

Raymonde de Laroche was the first woman in the world to earn a pilot license. On March 8th, 1910 she was awarded license number 36 by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale. Competing in the Coupe Femina, she won the 1913 award with a flight of over 4 hours. She set two world records in 1919 for longest flight by a woman, with a distance of 201 miles, and for reaching an altitude of 15,700 feet.

On July 18th, 1919, she was killed while flying in an experimental airplane when it crashed while trying to land.

Bessie Coleman

Elizabeth “Bessie” Coleman became the first African American women to earn a pilot license. As an African American she was unable to gain admission to flight schools in the US, so she learned French and then traveled to paris where she learned to fly. On June 15 1921 she earned her license and then returned to the united states where she earned a living performing stunts and demonstrating at air shows.

She fought to break down racial barriers in the segregated south. She died in a plane crash in 1926, but her life was seen as an important first step in breaking the racial and gender barriers in the early days of aviation.

Amelia Earhart

Amelia Earhart, one of the most famous pilots of all time, was the 16th woman to earn her pilots license, which she earned on May 15th 1923. She was the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean as a passenger, becoming a minor celebrity in the process. She then set a record as the first woman to fly across North America and the first woman to fly solo non-stop across the Atlantic.

As her fame grew, she began setting other records for aviation, but her ultimate goal was circumnavigating the globe. Although she wouldn’t be the first, her plan was to fly the longest route around the world. Her first attempt ended when she crashed on take-off. Her second attempt ended with one of the greatest mysteries of the 20th century. Flying west to east, she began her trip with a flight from Oakland, CA to Miami, FL. On one of the last, and most difficult legs of the trip, the plane disappeared on the approach to Howland Island in the central Pacific.

Jacqueline Cochran

Jacqueline Cochran earned her pilot license in 1932. A natural pilot, she first used her love of flying to promote “Wings,” her own line of cosmetics. In 1934, she began racing and was the first woman to fly in the Bendix Race, a point to point race from Los Angeles, CA to Cleveland, OH, which she won in 1937.

Before the US involvement in WWII, she proposed a program to allow women pilots to staff non-combat duties, similar to the British Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA). This proposal lead to her becoming the director of the WASPs. She was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal and the Distinguished Flying Cross. A lifelong friend of Chuck Yeager, she was the first woman to break the sound barrier, with Yeager flying in the chase plane. She went on to set more speed, altitude, and distance records than any other pilot, male or female, holding them until her death in 1980. No other woman, and very few men were as influential to the era of modern aviation.

Photographs of Women in Aviation

Ruth Law (1887-1970)

Elinor Smith, 16 (1911-2010)

c. 1927
"Miss Elinor Smith of New York, and Miss Bobby Trout of Los Angeles with the radio equipment which they will take up on the first woman's refueling flight for endurance. They are all set to take off in their sunbeam plane."

c. 1930

Katherine Sai Fun Choung

1930's Aviatrix | Costume Photo's

Paine Field Aviation Day

May 20th, 2017

Earlier this year I posted some of my inspiration of women's aviation wear from the early 20th century. Since then I've put together a 1930's Aviatrix ensemble consisting of a pair of jodhpurs, leather flight helmet, and knee high lace up boots, which I premiered at Paine Field Aviation Day in May. This outfit was really popular and it was so comfortable. 

Usually this event has terrible weather. It's always rainy, windy and freezing, so I was excited to finally have an outfit I could wear that would be warm and still fit the era. However, this was the first time I think in the history of this event that it was actually warm. Go figure. But this outfit was still surprisingly comfortable, even in the warm weather.

The event itself was fun, as usual, and it was a great day of volunteering and hanging out. At the end of the day I was able to get some pictures with one of the biplanes. The sun was really bright, so I'm squinting in most of the pictures, but they still turned out pretty nice.

I had a lot of people tell me I looked like Amelia Earhart throughout the day. As I walked by parents would point to me and tell their kids "look, there's Amelia Earhart, the first female pilot!" She wasn't the first, but she's one of the most famous. It was fun being Amelia for a day though.

Details about this costume:

• The jodhpurs/pants - made by me using Butterick pattern B6340. This pattern fit right out of the bag (which never happens), but it was a beast to put together. The instructions were so confusing and it has a lot of pieces and pockets. The mockup nearly drove me insane.
• The helmet and goggles - these are authentic British issued from WWII that I found at a local antique store. It was a great find and it even came with a picture and name of the man who originally owned them.
• The jacket - this is a modern jacket I found in a lucky stop at my local Goodwill.
• The boots - the boots are modern, purchased from Amazon and I love them!
• The rest of the items are modern pieces I either found at local stores or purchased from ThredUp. I was very specific in the modern pieces I used because I wanted to make sure they looked authentic. The piece I was most specific with was the sweater though. It was a little challenging to find something with the right knitted pattern and neckline that fit the vintage look I needed.

My plan is to replace most if not all of the modern pieces with authentic vintage pieces as I'm able to find them. But for now I'm happy with what I have.

Hangin' with Grumpy, the B-25 Bomber.

Not the greatest photo, but it's the only one I have without the helmet on.

I'm so proud of my hair. I set it in foam curlers the night before and that morning when I was trying to style it I just couldn't get it to look good, so I put in in a low ponytail and tucked it up underneath to create a faux-bob and it actually worked. It looked pretty good, if I do say so myself, and I got a ton of compliments on it.

1930's Aviation Outfit | The Inspiration

Why hello there, it's been a while hasn't it? I've been busy this month but sadly I haven't had anything that was really blogable and so I haven't been able to post... All year. Sorry, I had to make the joke. It's still close enough to the new year that I can do that on occasion.

Anyways...

I've begun work on a new project that I'm really excited about, a 1930's aviation outfit. I've always had a fascination with jodhpurs, mainly from seeing them in Star Wars and Indiana Jones, and I think they're rather fabulous. And this will be the perfect outfit to wear at Historic Flight events because 1) it'll be vintage. And 2) because it'll be warm. The majority of airshows I attend are cold and windy, so I usually shy away from wearing vintage because that usually means skirts. Skirts+cold+wind=a disaster. So this is a great solution.

My original inspiration came from this picture of Elinor Smith on Pinterest.

I did a bit more research and found that not only was this a common style for aviation but also for other sports such as horseback riding, golf, hiking, etc. from the 1920's through the 1940's.

At the moment the only thing I'm making is the pants, and I'm hoping to find a vintage top and scarf or tie and I'm planning on buying the rest. I purchased Butterick pattern B6433 and have just started the mockup for the pants. I'm really excited for this project and can't wait to have more to share.