This spring, step back in time and explore over 150 years of women’s sporting fashion pioneered by brave women at the recently opened Fearless Fashion exhibit at Figge Art Museum in Downtown Davenport.
Fearless Fashion is a touring exhibition coordinated by the American Federation of Arts and the FIDM Museum at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Los Angeles. The first of its kind, the exhibition peers into the evolution of women’s athletic apparel in Western fashion over the last 160 years. Sixty-four completely equipped outfits comprising over 480 antique artifacts selected from the FIDM Museum’s carefully curated collections will be on display at Figge Art Museum in Downtown Davenport for guests to examine in detail.
Guests will notice various themes emerge as they explore how clothing suited the demands of women’s sporting pursuits while maintaining societal norms of the time at Fearless Fashion. From flying aircrafts and skiing down the slopes to tanning at the beach, the various activities that became more accessible to women also meant that new fashion would be necessary for different pastimes. In addition to the items on display, biographies of significant sportswomen will place athletic fashion in the larger perspective of women’s social history. Unique to the Figge’s installation are interesting finds like a 1965 Harley Davidson Electra Glide Motorcycle, a vintage wardrobe trunk from 1910, and lots of awe-inspiring Amelia Earhart memorabilia.
“This 12-year project took us down many paths as we gathered together the very rare objects, many not found in other museum collections,” says Kevin L. Jones, curator at the FIDM Museum, in a press release. “Every single woman you see represented in these clothes was the modern woman of her time, whether it was the 1820s or the 1920s.”
Figge Art Museum is collaborating with local Downtown Davenport businesses on a fun campaign that gives museum guests a “ticket” to exchange for a free alcoholic beverage during the exhibition’s duration. With options from Mississippi River Distilling Company Downtown, Analog Arcade Bar and Endless Brews, there is something for everyone to enjoy while browsing Fearless Fashion while they still have the chance.
Admission to the museum is $10 for adults, $6 for seniors and students with ID and $4 for children ages 4 to 12.
For more information, visit figgeartmuseum.org.