... concept of wearing less for sport. His designs incorporated removing sleeves and raising hemlines for sports dresses. This allowed more freedom of movement and was more appropriate for participating in sports. Patou's modern designs had an impact on day wear as dress hemlines rose simultaneously. Prior to Patou's garments designed specifically for sports there was little distinction between daywear and sportswear. Daywear was normally worn for sport. Perhaps one of the earliest examples of sportswear becoming fashion wear was in the mid nineteen twenties when towelling 'Oxford bag's', originally worn by Oxford undergraduates over their rowing shorts, were taken on by women as chic day and sportswear. As popularity of active sports such as: punch-bag, water-skiing, running, fencing, mountaineering and ice-skating increased in the nineteen thirties, sportswear developed to be even more practical and gradually started to blend in more with the fashion world. Lee-Potter (1984) 'Half the ...

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