The gymnastics movement began in Germany, and newly arrived immigrants started the first gyms in the USA. These were primarily for men, but as early as the 1830 there are references to women doing gymnastic exercises. By the 1860s it was being suggested that women wear a "gymnastic dress" while exercising.

The gymnastic dress was similar to the Amelia Bloomer costume. It was made of a loose-fitting blouse, a fitted but loose waist, and a gathered skirt. The dress was worn shorter than fashionable dress of the time, but usually about six inches or so from the floor. There are lots of period photos and drawings of young women wearing this dress, and it is often mentioned in the literature of the time. But whether or not bloomers were usually worn beneath is not clear. They are not often mentioned, nor are they obvious in photos.

Amelia Bloomer in her famous Freedom Costume
from the collection of the Seneca Falls Historical Society

The early 20th century gymsuit was a big improvement over the dresses and skirts of the past, but there were still some major problems. The biggest one was the fabric. Gymsuits were being made from wool, a fabric that was heavy, hot and largely not washable.  Also, the top buttoned to the bloomers at the waist, which could gap open.

A big leap forward, in terms of comfort and hygiene, happened around 1910 with the introduction of the middy blouse as exercise wear. Sailor-type tops had long been favored as playwear for little boys and girls, and in the late 1800 had been seen in women's reform dress. The middy was made from washable cotton duck, and could be paired with either short "sports skirts," or knee-length knickers, which were also soon to be made from cotton. The ad right shows a popular style from 1923.  Read more about the middy.

1923 ad

Cotton duck Middy and Bloomers, early 1920s

At about the same time, the middy and bloomer combination became standard "uniforms" at a new institution - the summer camp. The first camps for girls were opened in 1902, and within a few years they were located throughout the eastern US. Because these camps were for girls only, the prohibition against wearing pants in public did not apply, and in photos of even the earliest camps you see girls and young women wearing bloomers. By the 1920s middies and bloomers were standard wear at camp.  In a 1920 list of articles to bring to Camp Keystone near Brevard, NC, girls were instructed to bring 8 middies, 4 bloomers and a heavy sweater. Skirts were not mentioned at all.

The photo above was made at Camp Merry Meeting, circa 1925

So the younger sisters, and even daughters, of the pioneering college students who first wore bloomers on a regular basis spent their summers attired in the relative freedom of middies and bloomers. And before long, this "uniform" was pretty much standard schoolgirl attire, although middies were worn with skirts outside the gymnasium.  To the left is a great example from Dorothea's Closet Vintage

The girls of the teens became women in the Twenties and Thirties, and were the first to wear short and slacks in public. Not surprising, really

Besides school gyms and summer camps, there was one more place where women could wear bloomers - their own homes. During World War I, some women held jobs un which they wore work overalls. By war's end, seeing the practically of such a work garment, a type of bloomer-jumpsuit was being marketed as a "house-work bloomer dress." These were offered for sale in the large mass marketing catalogs like Sears, and patterns were available for home sewers. According to the 1918 Sears catalog, "Women's overalls have met with such popular favor and are now worn so commonly that further recommendation is scarcely necessary."

As for the gymsuit, throughout the 1920s, the baggy knickers became less voluminous and shorter, and the middy became streamlined and lost its long sleeves and collar.   In the early 1930s gymsuits were either a shirt and shorts romper-like garment, sometimes with a detachable skirt, or were a very short dress with matching pantie-bloomers, much like a tennis dress.  The romper-skirt combination also became very  popular for regular casual wear, and remained so into the 1950s.

My mother, who was in high school in the 1940s, wore the dress-bloomers type.  She talked about how girls would roll the bloomers up very short, and then tuck in the hem of the skirt.  I suppose this was similar to the girls in my 1970s gym class who rolled the legs of our romper suits as short as possible.

As late as the 1960s, women at co-ed colleges were required to wear a coat over their gymsuits when crossing campus.  And in the early 1970s, my gym classes were still sex-segregated, though we often shared a field with the boys.  This might help explain the rolled shorts legs!

In the 1940s/50s gymsuit on the right, notice the embroidered initials. Many schools required the owner to embroider her name or initials on the gym suit.  This may helped the teacher with identification and remembering names.  But I can think of another reason the initials were required - to keep the girls from borrowing the suits from each other. 

When I was in school in the 1960s and 1970s, there were strict rules about taking the suit home to be washed.  The problem was that we refused to take the nasty old things and carry them to our lockers, and then to carry them home.  So whenever word got around that gymsuits were to be inspected, there was a rash of suit borrowing from more fastidious classmates. 

By the 1980s, gymsuits were becoming a garment of the past, largely replaced by shorts and tee shirts, and largely forgotten as the innovative garment that helped ease women into wearing pants.

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