Garment reconstruction

The Bikes & Bloomers projects builds on the long history of practice research, reconstructions and experiments in science and technology studies.

Some researchers replicate iconic faraday experiments (Ho-Ttecke 2000; Tweney et al 2005). Some undertake classic electricity reconstructions (Cavicchi 2006). Some cook from the archive (Connell and Nicosia 2018).

Drawing on archival research and following detailed step-by-step instructions provided in Victorian patents, we are reconstructing a collection of women’s convertible cycling garments to better understand the mechanisms of their construction and examine how they both enabled and constrained mobile bodies.

– Patent #17145: Alice Louisa Bygrave and her ‘Bygrave Convertible Skirt’

– Patent #6794: Julia Gill and her cycling semi-skirt

– Patent #8766: Frances Henrietta Müller and her three-piece cycling suit

– Patent #13832: Mary Elizabeth & Sarah Ann Pease and their cycling skirt /cape

– Patent #9605: Mary Ann Ward and her ‘Hyde Park Safety Skirt’