114 years ago - The Athletic Summer Girl of 1897

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May 30, 1897 - The Sunday Herald: Syracuse, New York

FAIR ONE'S FADS

The Athletic Summer Girl of '97

NOT STYLISH TO BE FLABBY

Must Excel in Golf, Fencing, Swimming and Rowing

The summer girl of 1897 is to be distinctly an athlete.

She may still cling to the fluffiness of other years when she is indulging in a promenade upon the hotel veranda or along the beach, but this will disappear when the hour for athletics arrives.

It is all the outgrowth of the idea that a woman to be thoroughly fashionable must be muscular. The day of the flabby girl has departed.

What particular form will the athletic fad take?

This is the question the mothers and fathers of the summer girl have been asking.

You can count the branches of the fad on four fingers. Here they are: Golf, fencing, swimming, rowing. There is a strong tendency toward popularizing the fourth in the category named.

Wellesley girls had a “crew” last year that took spins on the river and lake. The gymnasiums at the girls’ colleges were exceedingly well patronized by the students. Perhaps one might not think it, but very many of those same students are summer girls—the simon-pure article.

There are a lot of things the summer girl must know to be athletic. If a girl is really going to enter into outdoor sports, she must be absolutely correct in what she does. Golf is considered a rather muscular game for a woman, and so it is. Not only that, but it is a game that calls for knowledge as well as skill…

All these things must the summer girl of 1897 ponder over.

If she faithfully carries out the promise Dame Fashion will require her to make, she will have far less time to spend in Flirtation Glen or Engagement Grove.

From "Daughters of the Lost Century"

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