LPGA Style Evolution: From the Founders to Modern Performance Wear, How Women's Golf Fashion Has Changed in 74 years
Once upon a time in fashion, Bermuda shorts were not only considered to be in style but they were thought to be a symbol of female liberation.
When the LPGA was founded in 1950, hemlines above the ankle were as daring as women could go to ensure a level of modesty expected during that era. But the organization, along with its 13 founders, set a new set of rules for women in sports.
The establishment of the Tour came during a time when the prescribed behaviors of women in society, especially as athletes, began to shift. Gender roles and gender expression drove the world's perception of women, and how women dressed was so closely connected to their respectability.
Honor, virtue and status ruled the game's attire standards, but with influential figures like Babe Zaharias, who embraced her rather boastful, tom-boyish style, and Marilynn Smith, who wouldn't be seen in public without a string of pearls, golf's style evolution has taken many shapes over the years.
Golf, unlike other sports, doesn't demand its participants to wear a specific uniform. However, golfers are still expected to adhere to a certain dress code. As the game progresses, so do the limits of what is considered acceptable on-course apparel. Golf has moved into a new era, one where the intersection between fashion and functionality has never been more apparent.
Throughout the LPGA Tour’s 74-year history, we have seen the trends of the decades come and go. Let's take a closer look at female golf’s fashion history and how players have flaunted their best fits while traipsing the fairways.
1950s-1970s
In the latter half of the 20th century, women's fashion took bountiful leaps toward movement. The shift away from restricting garments came with the freedom of mobility. Comfortability and how clothes performed athletically were now being taken into consideration.
As a result, over the course of the ‘50s and ‘60s, hemlines crept higher and higher. Ankle-length skirts and sack dresses morphed into skorts, making knee-length skirts more plausible while remaining relatively modest.
With the rise of major fashion houses – think Dior, Yves Saint Laurant, and Ralph Lauren – women's apparel at the macro level began to embrace the autonomy of women. Designers and tailors had even begun making things like pantsuits for women, something that was almost unheard of in previous decades.
In the late 60s into the 70s, dresses and other feminine silhouettes were traded for high-waisted slacks, taking more of a gender-neutral approach to on-course style. Pants were used by women as a proclamation of power and equality to their male counterparts in the game.
1980s-90s
The 1980s brought on the dawn of polyester and bright colors. Making a statement is what mattered, and athletes wanted to stand out from the rest with not just their scores but with their wardrobes, too.
Enter golf's famed glamor girl, Jan Stephenson. Her teased Farrah Fawcett-like hair along with her daringly bright-colored fits and her charming smile captured the attention of not just golfers but seemingly the entire world. Her face was plastered across magazines, and she was golf’s "it girl" of the 80s.
Stephenson and her peers adhered to a chic and simple-yet-effective recipe of color coordinating their high-waisted trousers and short-sleeved tops as well as their accessories (belts, hats, scarves, etc.) to make their fashion statements.
It seemed that the bolder, the better was standard until khaki rolled around.
What seems like a golf staple now wasn't always around in women's golf apparel. LPGA Tour players didn't embrace the neutral until the 1990s, along with oversized polos – stretch fabrics weren't yet a thing – and wide-brimmed visors.
Much like the transition from the ‘60s into the ‘70s, gender-neutral silhouettes were being embraced in the ‘90s, and players wanted to focus more on the performance aspect of apparel compared to the vibrant and boldness of the previous decade.
Vibrant colors and striking patterns had been traded for subtle, more muted colors and tones, and many embraced neutrals, following the color palette you often see on a golf course by wearing blues, greens and tans.
The 2000s-2010s
Despite the turn of the century and welcoming the new millennia, early 2000s golf fashion followed similar silhouettes to the 90s. Baggy and oversized were the name of the game for a while until yet another shift took place.
Tiger Woods’ partnership with Nike reimagined what a golfer looked like. Woods' athleticism was center stage, and what he wore needed to reflect that. Nike and other legacy golf brands like Cobra Puma, Adidas and Callaway introduced performance and stretch technologies into their apparel. Suddenly moisture-wicking was added to golf fashion’s day-to-day vernacular.
The baggy, cotton-fiber polos that feed our nostalgia were replaced with the polyester polos sitting in our closets right now.
Fashion, however, is cyclical, and as new technology emerges, women's golf apparel found itself reverting back to skirts and skorts, shortening hemlines and foregoing sleeves on polos to adopt a new look – sleeveless collared tanks.
Former Epson Tour player, instructor and golf fashion aficionado Liz Breed, who goes by Shank Haney on social media, has witnessed the shift in women's golf apparel firsthand.
"The world of golf fashion for women is in a fun and exciting place, but I still think there is a lot more room to grow," says Breed. "When you look at golf fashion not even 20 years ago, women (now) have a lot of things that we can wear on the golf course, from athleisure to streetwear.
“When I say it has room to grow, I still think it's one-dimensional about what women can wear on a golf course. Twenty years ago, it was pretty harsh on the polo and skort combo. That outfit has now become a matching set or a dress. I would love to see women explore non-golfing brands and put those on the golf course, taking influences of what you would wear in your normal day-to-day life."
Present Day
Over the last four years or so, many brands have begun to specifically target female golfers, incorporating more fashion-forward items for women and shifting trends once more.
The push for golf apparel to be more relaxed and multidimensional is embodied by the latest launch of Rhone's women's collection, an amalgamation of on-course pieces such as an activewear dress and polos mixed with more relaxed styles, including leggings and tank tops.
Comfort-focused without sacrificing style is the direction that golf apparel is moving swiftly into, and Rhone has recognized that, delivering a collection highlighted by elevated basics – think classic polos and sensible skort options – with a natural color palette for versatility.
Each piece of apparel from Rhone is crafted with the brand's signature fabric technologies designed specifically with movement in mind, and with its debut women's collection, Rhone placed an emphasis on dressing women who are on the go. Whether a woman is running errands or engaging in high-intensity workouts, Rhone and the women of the brand wanted a collection that is all-encompassing for the modern woman.
In developing the women's collection, the brand conducted research and focus groups to collect data to see exactly what women look for in lifestyle and activewear.
When asked about the design implications of a collection specific to women, CEO and Co-Founder of Rhone, Nate Checketts shared, "The most important to (us) is more performance. So (the clothes) have to perform at the absolute highest level, it's got to be able to go the full 18 holes.
“(The customer) has got to feel great about the product. We use the best moisture-wicking odor-control fabrication that is on the market. That's the standard. But then she's got to feel confident. One of the things that we've noticed in women's golf, is that there's such a traditional design pattern, and what's big right now with women in active and lifestyle are sets and inflections.
“So, we built some really useful sets and a collection that she's going to feel as confident in when she goes into a studio class as she does walking out on the course."
Along with the women’s collection, Rhone has partnered with the LPGA and Epson Tours, in an effort to carry out its mission of apparel that not only looks good but encourages you to pursue a lifestyle centered around mental wellness.
"Everything we do is around mental fitness," explains Emma Crepeau, Rhone's Chief Growth Officer. “The LPGA and Rhone are united by a common passion and a shared commitment to innovation and excellence. Together, we combine our missions to inspire performance, empower individuals to reach their full potential and instill life skills within communities.
“Fueled by our collective support in the pursuit of progress, we look forward to working together to assist talent in developing and achieving success."
Throughout the course of the last seven decades, golf fashion has ebbed and flowed so much. From showcasing individual style to influencing the culture at large, on-course wear will continue to embrace the traditions of the game while adding elements that are fashion-forward and of the times.
As women's golf continues to grow and develop, it's imperative that there are accessible and inclusive apparel options available for all to look good in and feel – and play – even better.
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