When it comes to fashions of the 1880s – 1890s, people tend to think that they were impractical and completely non-functional. Well, that was not always the case and in fact, things were dramatically changing as women began taking up outside pursuits such as hiking, cycling, tennis, and golf. In fact, by the 1890s, cycling was a becoming a major phenomenon and this was reflected in fashion where outfits were designed around the need for clothes that would not interfere with riding a bicycle.

Below is a picture of us at a Tweed Ride that was held last January:

And another one… 🙂

Sponsored by CicLAvia, the tweed ride is held every year in January and it’s theme is dressing up in tweed or other period-esque clothing of the late 19th/early 20th Centuries. The ride is tailored towards older “slow bikes” (no Tour-de-France stuff here 🙂 with an emphasis on a more period feeling.  This distance was about ten miles with on mostly level ground (although there were some steep grades we had to negotiate in a couple of places). The clothing guidelines are fairly loose and people interpret “tweed” in many ways (including Adam in his German uniform) but it’s all good fun. For us, this event is tailor-made to get out, get some fresh air and exercise, and, of course, wear our clothes. 🙂

Not only did we get some fresh air and exercise, we got to meet some very nice people and after socializing for awhile after the ride, we headed back to the start point which was about three miles from the start point. Now, one would have thought that would have been it for the day but no…the skies had been clouding up all day and finally the heavens let loose with raid and hail. Yes, HAIL…in Southern California. And we rode all three miles through it in our period clothes. And you know what? They held up just find and just required some drying out when we got home. So much for the idea that these styles are fragile and impractical. 🙂

We are definitely looking forward to the next tweed ride (hopefully without hail). 🙂