1895 Combination Cycle Skirt
by Alice Worthington Winthrop
About the Patent
- NAMEAlice Worthington Winthrop
- PATENTUS549472A
- DATENovember 5, 1895
- LOCATIONPatented in the United States – inventor residing in Washington DC, US
- INVENTION“Bicycle-Skirt”
- THEMEMoving [more about our themes]
About the Inventor
Born in 1846, Alice Worthington Winthrop (neé Worthington) was orphaned by the age of three. She grew up with her grandmother, aunts and uncle, and married in 1877 to William Woolsey Winthrop.
Her bicycle suit was distributed by at least four key department stores across the US, but we have not yet found evidence of it going into wider production. In addition to inventing a suit to enable women to participate in a range of physical activities, Winthrop was committed to advocating healthy living and women’s rights more broadly. Shortly after filing her patent – and the death of her husband – she started writing on subjects such as “Diet for Brain Workers”, “The Question of Food for the People” and “Collegiate Education for Women”.
About the Invention
PROBLEM
Divided skirts – regarded by the inventor as “the least cumbersome form of ladies’ apparel for bicycle-riding” – were not yet seen by wider society as suitable to wear while off the bicycle. Active women had to be inventive in how they could disguise the fact that they were wearing bifurcated garments. Winthrop was interested in how a single garment might be used for walking, cycling and social settings whilst also being adaptable to changing weather conditions.
SOLUTION
Winthrop’s design comprised a divided skirt with front and rear panels that could be fixed in place to cover the two-legged nature of the garment. Taking the invention further, the front panel could be folded and fastened to form a satchel or pocket with attachments to affix to the handlebars of the wearer’s bicycle. The rear panel could be used as a hooded cape to protect the wearer should the weather become inclement or the rider become chilled.
Open Access Patent Document
See the complete US patent.
“The detached parts can be done up in a bundle of small compass and strapped to the bicycle, so as to be available for instant use at any time the wearer may wish, if, for example, she may wish to quit her bicycle and walk for any distance or length of time.”
— Alice Worthington Winthrop, inventor
Winthrop’s Invention in the Press
Speculatively Sewing Alice Worthington Winthrop’s invention
Learn more about speculative sewing here
“The Winthrop” invention is made up of three individual garments – and everything turns into something else.
It initially appears to be an ordinary long A-line skirt. However, upon removing the front apron, it turns out that the full-length skirt is in fact not a skirt at all but rather wide-legged trousers. The front apron is buttoned at the waistband and hips and when it is removed it transforms into a satchel or pocket, which can be worn over the shoulder or arm, or attached to the handlebars of the bicycle. The inventor indicates where to add extra buttons and straps for such attachments.
The apron at the back of the garment is gathered at the waist to create a full skirt effect. When pulled away from the waistband and turned 45 degrees, it reveals two cords that are threaded across a corner. Raising this garment to the shoulders and gathering the cords creates a hooded cape. Winthrop also suggests that, when the weather is good, the wearer could simply fold this up and put it into the satchel. It’s a very clever design!
Sewing this invention required a lot of work. As indicated above there are many pieces and there are even more fastenings. The team made an initial calico toile and then 5 customised versions in heavier stretch denim for the performers to wear in the POP theatre piece (see below). All were lined with a specific colour to highlight the inventive details.
All convertible inventions include a lot of fastenings – this design has the most! Winthrop’s invention has up to ten pairs of snaps/poppers to secure the front apron, two straps and four snap/poppers for the handle on the front apron, and up to fifteen pairs of snaps/poppers to secure the rear apron. The rear apron also required up to twelve loops to be sewn on the inside to secure the cord that gathered the neck of the cape. Additionally, the skirt/trousers had three buttons on the side placket.
It is very easy to skim over boring and mundane details like fastenings and yet, in this case especially, they are critical technologies in the transformation of the invention. This experience highlighted to us what emerges from the process of reconstructing a garment that differs from just reading the patent (see video below).
You can read our open access journal article about speculative sewing here.
Winthrop’s invention was part of POP’s theatre show
POP team collaborated with the award-winning feminist theatre company Scary Little Girls, led by Becca Morden and Dr Naomi Paxton and featuring a troupe of talented performers, to produce an interactive and immersive theatre show based on POP research.
Called POCKETS of POWER, this theatrical collaboration involved comedy, spoken word, songs, sketches, puppetry and audience games. It showed how women throughout history radically reinvented the worlds of clothing invention and design to solve problems and smash stereotypes.
This show was commissioned and performed at Glastonbury 2023, Being Human Festival 2023 and Mayven Arts Festival in Cornwall 2023.
More research relating to Winthrop’s invention
Below is a selection of research activities relating to Winthrop’s invention and activewear more generally. Click through to learn more.
The Speculative Sewing Inventory is part of the Politics Of Patents project, which has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. Grant No: 819458. Politics Of Patents is hosted by Goldsmiths College, University of London.
