Early fashions
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Female cyclist in rational dress from 1889. Source: http://1890swriters.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/1890s-womens-fashion.html
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The Safety Cycle: Photograph: London Stereoscopic Company Getty Images
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Cambridge students hang an effigy of a woman riding a bike in protest against university admission. Photograph: Hulton Archive/ Getty Images
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Source: http://www.brainpickings.org/2012/01/03/donts-for-women-on-bicycles-1895/
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Two suffragettes on bicycles in 1914. Photograph: Corbis
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Beryl Burton
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Connie Carpenter-Phinney wins the LA Olympics Road Race in 1984. Photo sourced from http://pages.rapha.cc/
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Helen Wyman wins the 2013 Koppenbergcross. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images Afp/AFP/Getty Images
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Photo: http://www.womenstour.co.uk/
Early fashions
The arrival of the Safety Bicycle, a more practical evolution of the Penny Farthing, prompted Victorian fashion to make way for a new look for women that was more conducive to riding a bike – such as this outfit from around 1884.
Women were allowed to ride a bike without a chaperone and understandably, leapt at the opportunity and the chance to wear (slightly) more comfortable clothing.
This sort of rationale dress literally gave them more mobility and as a result, they were freer to travel without the risk of their cumbersome skirts getting caught up.