This women’s ski outfit was made in Great Britain in the early 1920s. During that decade skiing became a highly fashionable society sport and its growing popularity was accompanied by new equipment and clothing.

This outfit shows how women’s ski wear had progressed. Gone are the long skirts which dragged behind in the snow. Gone too are the corsets and knitted sweaters which let in the cold. This streamlined gabardine suit with its breeches cut below the knee is a much more practical alternative.

Its design was inspired by the uniforms worn by the British Land Girls during the First World War. Known as the Women's Land Army, they were agricultural workers who substituted for the men who had enlisted. Rural labour required practical clothing so land-workers wore belted tunics with deep pockets and knee breeches. Soon ski outfits based on this design began to appear in fashionable resorts. The respectability of war work had helped break down social taboos surrounding women exposing their legs and wearing breeches.