About
If you saw a female footballer wearing one of these bonnets at a football match today, you would think she looked very out of place, but this is exactly what female footballers used to wear.
This bonnet, from the National Football Museum in Manchester, is from the 1920s when it was common for women to have their heads covered at all times, even when they were playing sports.
Bonnets have been common from the 17th century and were used mostly by women to keep their hair clean and neat. Wealthier ladies might have a bonnet made of silk, often stiffened with whale bone. This bonnet is made of lace and is a good example of the more restrained fashions of the interwar years.
Nowadays women’s kits and men’s kits are the same, but this was not always the case.
Things to think about?
- Do you think this bonnet is very practical for a football kit?
- Why do you think only women had to wear these?
- Can you have a go at designing your own football bonnet?