Riding habit

This beautifully made riding habit includes both jodhpurs and a skirt. The riding skirt by this date has become slender and the inclusion of jodhpurs underneath can be seen as a sign of the transition between the modesty of the voluminous 19th century side saddle skirt to the modern riding pants style that would dominate by the 1920s. It marks the end of side saddle riding for women and to the impropriety of jodhpurs and a beginning of a change in thinking about the equality of men and women. The provenance adds extra interest as it was donated by the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust established in 1938. Mary Flagler Cary was the daughter of Annie Louise Lamont (-1939) who was married in 1894 to Harry Harkness Flagler (1879-1952) whose father, Henry Morrison Flager, was one of founders of Standard Oil.