{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1811228"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1811228/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2026PM9122/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2026PM9122/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2026PM9122","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2026PM9123","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2026PM9130","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2026PM9129","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2026PM9132","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2026PM9128","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2026PM9127","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2026PM9125","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2026PM9124","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2025PL2736","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1811228/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1811228","accessionNumber":"T.142:1 to 3-2025","objectType":"Sporting ensemble","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This North American ensemble offers a classic 1910s womenswear silhouette with a twist: a panel at the front of what appears to be a conventional long skirt can be buttoned differently to reveal the wide-legged trousers or ‘divided skirt’ beneath. Ingenious designs for convertible sporting outfits offering women both functionality and the social acceptability of the skirt were widely developed around the turn of the century. Many of them were thought up and patented by women. Produced by the major New York firm National Cloak & Suit Co., which marketed itself as the ‘largest ladies’ outfitting establishment in the world’, this suit dating to around 1910–5 demonstrates how such daring (if also amelioratory) shifts within womenswear were increasingly absorbed into mainstream fashion in places including the United States. \n\r\n‘Riding skirt’ was a popular name for convertible garments of this kind, which were advertised as suitable for activities such as horse riding, bicycling and golf. The accompanying loose belted jacket references the 19th-century ‘Norfolk jacket’ originally designed in Britain for shooting – another indication that aspects of practical menswear were becoming more accepted for women in certain contexts.\r\n","physicalDescription":"Yellow linen twill sporting ensemble made up of a Norfolk-style jacket with a detachable belt and a convertible trousers or skirt garment.\r\n\r\nThe jacket has a turned-over collar and sightly rounded pointed lapels. The long sleeves have a turn-up feature. There is a pocket on each lower side at the front. They are patch pockets with a triangular flap on the front of each patch. The jacket, which is unlined, has a button closure along the centre front, with the three buttons in place. A rectangular yellow label stating ‘National Cloak & Suit Co. / NEW YORK’ is affixed in the middle of the inside collar.\r\n\r\nThe belt loops on the front and back of the jacket are made from pieces of fabric which extend from the front hem to the back hem, going over the shoulders. The belt, made of the same fabric as the rest of the ensemble, terminates in a point with a buttonhole. It has a button which matches those on the jacket.\r\n\r\nThe full-length, wide-legged trousers are divided at the back. The division can be hidden at the front by rebuttoning one panel, using it to cover the centre front of the garment. At the front, there are buttonholes for ten buttons down each side (four of the original twenty are missing). The garment has a narrow waistband and a wide hem. It is unlined.\r\n","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"National Cloak & Suit Co.","id":"AUTH411529"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"linen","id":"x29412"}],"techniques":[{"text":"tailoring","id":"x39134"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"linen twill, buttons","categories":[{"text":"Fashion","id":"THES48957"},{"text":"Sport","id":"THES48893"},{"text":"Womenswear","id":"THES49044"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&F","id":"THES48601"},"images":["2026PM9122","2026PM9123","2026PM9130","2026PM9129","2026PM9132","2026PM9128","2026PM9127","2026PM9125","2026PM9124","2025PL2736"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"003","id":"THES404278"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"003","id":"THES404278"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"003","id":"THES404278"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Jacket","id":"THES398689"}],[{"text":"Belt","id":"x39371"}],[{"text":"Trousers","id":"AAT209935"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"New York","id":"x29030"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1910–5","earliest":"1905-01-01","latest":"1915-12-31"},"association":{"text":"designed and made","id":"x39722"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Purchased with the support of the Elspeth Evans bequest ","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"75.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Jacket","note":"Centre front"},{"dimension":"Width","value":"115","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Jacket","note":"Bust"},{"dimension":"Width","value":"39","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Jacket","note":"Centre back "},{"dimension":"Length","value":"101","unit":"","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Trousers","note":"Centre front"},{"dimension":"Circumference","value":"81","unit":"","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Trousers","note":"Waist"}],"dimensionsNote":"Curatorial dimensions:\r\nJacket: 700mm long (collar to hem); 420mm shoulder to shoulder; 430mm across waist; 630mm maximum width\r\nTrousers: 1040 long; 310 across waist; 710mm width of each leg hem","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"‘National Cloak & Suit Co. / NEW YORK’","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"rectangular yellow label"}],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Sporting ensemble made up of a jacket with a detachable belt and a convertible trousers or skirt garment, linen twill, National Cloak & Suit Co., New York, United States, around 1910–5","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Kat Jungnickel, <i>Bikes and Bloomers: Victorian Women Inventors and Their Extraordinary Cycle Wear</i> (2018)"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["T.142:1-2025","T.142:2-2025","T.142:3-2025"],"accessionNumberNum":"142","accessionNumberPrefix":"T","accessionYear":2025,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-04-01","recordCreationDate":"2025-10-17","availableToBook":false}}