Details
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Details of object number: 0242
Title:Tennis skirt
Object name:skirt
Production date:(about) 1900
Description:Long, beige, straight-cut tennis skirt with alternating square and rounded decorative flaps, each with three fabric-covered decorative buttons and pleats below. The back opens at the top centre and can be fastened with ties tucked into the waistband.
Hist. crit. notes:Sport as a leisure activity was still virtually unknown in Tyrol at the turn of the 20th century. The German nationalist gymnastics movement of the 1890s was politically motivated, emphasising military drill and discipline. It was furthermore opposed to the new types of sport, developed in Great Britain but gradually gaining ground here thanks to tourism. Sports such as cycling and tennis thus represent a distinct expression of a new era.
This particularly applies to the issues raised by the women’s movement. There still existed two opposing ideals of women: the 19th century ideal of a delicate, pale, protective and inactive woman: and the new ideal of a self-willed, sporty woman who studied, worked and would shake off the old female role. Outdoor sporting activities were therefore an expression of the new self-image of modern, emancipated women. On 12 April 1898, seven courageous female cyclists took part in a cycling race in Innsbruck – the first women’s competition in Tyrol. This was especially brave as women’s sport was still at first ridiculed and mocked.
Six years later – from 27 June to 3 July 1904 – Tyrol’s first tennis tournament was held, also in Innsbruck, with a separate women’s category and a mixed competition. An international tennis tournament in 1910 was staged in several locations: Gossensass/Colle Isarco, Roncegno and Molveno, with the grand finale taking place on the Karer/Costalunga Pass.
Access to women’s sport was at that time – and for the next decade – restricted to ladies from the upper middle classes and the aristocracy. The tennis skirt in the Museum of Everyday Culture in Neumarkt/Egna comes from the estate of Baroness Widmann of Kurtatsch/Cortaccia. Oral tradition has it that the high society of the Unterland/Bassa Atesina region would meet to play tennis on the Fennberg/Favogna mountain above Kurtatsch.
This particularly applies to the issues raised by the women’s movement. There still existed two opposing ideals of women: the 19th century ideal of a delicate, pale, protective and inactive woman: and the new ideal of a self-willed, sporty woman who studied, worked and would shake off the old female role. Outdoor sporting activities were therefore an expression of the new self-image of modern, emancipated women. On 12 April 1898, seven courageous female cyclists took part in a cycling race in Innsbruck – the first women’s competition in Tyrol. This was especially brave as women’s sport was still at first ridiculed and mocked.
Six years later – from 27 June to 3 July 1904 – Tyrol’s first tennis tournament was held, also in Innsbruck, with a separate women’s category and a mixed competition. An international tennis tournament in 1910 was staged in several locations: Gossensass/Colle Isarco, Roncegno and Molveno, with the grand finale taking place on the Karer/Costalunga Pass.
Access to women’s sport was at that time – and for the next decade – restricted to ladies from the upper middle classes and the aristocracy. The tennis skirt in the Museum of Everyday Culture in Neumarkt/Egna comes from the estate of Baroness Widmann of Kurtatsch/Cortaccia. Oral tradition has it that the high society of the Unterland/Bassa Atesina region would meet to play tennis on the Fennberg/Favogna mountain above Kurtatsch.
Material:Viskose
Technique:sewn
Dimensions:
- length: 96 cm
Physical description:Viskose, Knöpfe
Institution:Museum of Popular Culture