Good morning! This Friday I'm taking over the wheel of #FemFri as our Captain is off cutting a dash on the slopes. I'm Margo, I have a newsletter called Three Weeks, I often wear clothes, and I like finding out about problems being solved. So today I have three stories for you about inventive women who made awesome wearable things. 

First, if you have seen Kate Beaton's velocipedestrienne comics and wanted to bite some of that style, Kat Jungnickel has got your back. Her research project Bikes and Bloomers has collected the clothes patterns that Victorian women created to make cycling safer for themselves. In 1895 Brixton dressmaker Alice Bygraves patented an "convertible skirt" which saved the rider from getting fabric caught in the spokes. 

If you make one of these (I think a geometric print would be just darling) please send pics. 

http://bikesandbloomers.com/

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/bike-blog/2018/apr/16/the-ingenious-cyclewear-victorian-women-invented-to-navigate-social-mores​

Another woman interested in creating something that would let her move more freely was Lisa Lindahl. Lindahl got together theatrical costumers Polly Smith and Hinda Schreiber Miller to help make a "jockstrap for women" because she was a frustrated runner and there were no supportive bras on the market. In fact, before Lindahl and Miller's Jogbra went on the market in 1977, there was no such thing as a sports bra at all. That's right, 1977. If you're keeping notes the first modern bikini design was created in 1946. 

https://www.runnersworld.com/runners-stories/a20860634/a-brief-history-of-the-sports-bra/

Altina Schinasi's most well-known creation wasn't designed for fitness, practicality, or ease of movement. As a window dresser on Fifth Avenue she collaborated with Salvador Dalí and studied painting with George Grosz. She'd go on to direct and produce a 1960 Oscar-nominated documentary on Grosz during her California years working as an artist. But it was back in New York in the '30s when she was struck by the drab eyeglasses she saw women wearing: "Surely, there must be some way to design eyeglasses that could be attractive! What looks good on a face? What adds to a face? What could a woman wear on her face that would be romantic?"

Her inspiration was the Harlequin or 'cat's eye' frame, the first commercial glasses frame that was considered a fashion accessory. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altina_Schinasi

And to celebrate this #FemFri, here is Catwoman and general heroine Eartha Kitt in some Altina-worthy specs. Our other all purpose heroine Alex will be back next week with something as undoubtedly fabulous as Ms. Kitt.