No Corsets!

On 4 September, 1897 there was a ‘rationalists’ pilgrimage from London to Oxford. This was a large group of women cyclists who were promoting rational dress. The focus of this talk is to provide a snapshot of the campaign to rationalise women’s dress in the late 19th century which enabled them to cycle and more importantly to participate in public life and begin to be treated in a more egalitarian way. These campaigners were an important part of the development and practical application of feminist and egalitarian ideas. 2018 was a year of notable centenaries, the suffragette movement being one of the key historical events leading to women’s suffrage and our position in the world today.

Leading local academic and historian, Dr Katherine Bradley, will tell us about some of the history of the movement, focusing specifically on how and why women’s clothes changed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and the way in which the Rational Dress and Aesthetic movements attempted to bring about change.