Amelia Earhart was the first aviator to fly alone across the Atlantic Ocean. Although she is remembered for her achievements in aviation, she made a big impact on fashion in the 1920's. By colleagues, he way of dress was described as "lacking taste", and called her headwear "a public menace". In 1935, only two years before her 1937 flight were she turned out missing, Amelia Earhart was named one of the 10 best-dresses women of the year by fashion designers.
Amelia Earhart style was also described as a female version of Charles Lindbergh, which was clean-cut. To fly Amelia preferred old comfortable clothes, with not one touch of elegance. High laced shoes, trousers, ancient leather coat, leather flying helmet and goggles was Amelia Earhart's flying outfit. Other female pilots would have still dressed feminine while on a plane,
but Amelia chose to have a more comfortable style.
In 1929, when she made more public appearances, Amelia started to dress more elegant. After she became well-known she started dressing better on flights. Instead on a wind breaker suit, she but wear a suede suit with a cut. One of her friends, Katherine Hepburn, was in a movie that was very similar to Amelia's life. In he movie, Katherine Hepburn wear more glamorous styles of Amelia's flying outfits.
In the 1930's Amelia convinced manufacturers to put her name on fashion labels. Her line got very popular, and Amelia started being featured in magazines and newspapers. In May of 1934, she even had her on spread in Vogue magazine. She also had a luggage line, Amelia Earhart Luggage, which was designed by her. Amelia's clothing line went against the "systematic repression of women", and was made for more athletic type women.
Source:
Source:
Benstock, Shari. On Fashion. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1994. 76-94. Print.
I enjoyed your concise overview of Earhart and her fashion. Benstock's book is a great resource. Her fashion label as well as her luggage is well-documented in my recent publication, Endorsed by Earhart: How Amelia Financed her Flying. Her luggage is documented from 1933 when the Orenstein Trunk Company produced the Amelia Earhart line until it was sold to Baltimore Luggage in 1972. There were several different trunk and luggage models, some cedar lined. The book also discusssed the different luggage labels found on the Orenstein line. AE's fashion label lasted only one season, 1933/1934.
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