Sweater

Unknown

1910–30 · wool · Costume Institute

The wool-knit football jersey was a vigorous, collegiate, and competitive icon of the era of Leyendecker and Fitzgerald heroes. In a time of young national spirit and sports largely unspoiled by professional teams, the Ivy League playing fields were the counterpart to the Duke of Wellington's tenet that the Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton. In significant ways, the battle for modern sportswear was won on college campuses and playing fields. It was no accident that Dorothy Shaver and other merchandisers sold their new sports separates chiefly under the rubric of "college shop" or "campus shop" within department stores. Likewise, comparable menswear was sold until the 1970s within department stores paramountly under the boutique names of "university shop" or "college shop" and with habitual allusions to the Ivy League.

Artist

Unknown

Date

1910–30

Medium

wool

Culture

American

Department

Costume Institute

Credit line

The Jacqueline Loewe Fowler Costume Collection, Gift of Jacqueline Loewe Fowler, 1981