Skirts and the Slam Dunk: The History of Women’s Basketball Uniforms

Over the decades, women who played basketball were told to put modesty over practicality. Men ruled that a woman's femininity must be preserved and as such, in the 19th-century, women often played in floor-length wool skirts. Players would trip and bruise, further fuelling the trope that women were too frail or weak to play. Basketball itself was even adapted into a more ‘appropriate’ and docile game for women, only fully returning to a full-court game in 1971. As the women’s game grew in popularity, viewers were progressively more frustrated at the off-kilter balance between femininity and athleticism. Reports across Europe and the US described the game as ‘vulgar’ and that women were playing with ‘grim and murderous’ conviction. Society jeered not only at the unsightliness of having women play such a ‘masculine’ sport but the revealing uniforms too. With the introduction of the knee-length flapper skirt in the ‘20s came a similarly shorter length for the women’s wool basketball skirts and bloomers. Despite all the tempestuous sexism, these Gatsby-esque hemlines continued for another few decades. Interestingly, team sports in Europe, such as football and handball, were already encouraging the introduction of baggy button-able shorts in as early as the ‘30s. The misogyny within basketball enforced skirts as if to take away an element of legitimacy within the women’s teams. But the ‘40s and ‘50s made waves for change. With the production of cheaper materials, wool uniforms were finally replaced with functional polyesters and nylons. Thanks to the female workforce of the Second World War, a new and overdue image of strong females permeated the world over and belted satin shorts started to creep into the games.