giving the women a slight S-bend silhouette that would be popular well into the Edwardian era. Sportswear and tailored fashions Changing attitudes about acceptable activities for women also made sportswear popular for women, with such notable examples as the bicycling dress and the tennis dress. Unfussy, tailored clothes, adapted from the earlier theme of men's tailoring and simplicity of form, were worn for outdoor activities and traveling. The shirtwaist, a costume with a bodice or waist tailored like a man's shirt with a high collar, was adopted for informal daywear and became the uniform of working women. Walking suits featured ankle-length skirts with matching jackets. The notion of "rational dress" for women's health was a widely discussed topic in 1891, which led to the development of sports dress. This included ample skirts with a belted blouse for hockey. In addition, cycling became very popular and led to the development of "cycling costumes", which were shorter skirts or "bloomers" which were Turkish trouser style outfits. By the 1890s, women bicyclists increasingly wore bloomers in public and in the company of men as well as other women. Bloomers seem to have been more commonly worn in Paris than in England or the United States and became quite popular and fashionable. In the United States, bloomers were more intended for exercise than fashion. The rise of American women's college sports in the 1890s created a need for more unencumbered movement than exercise skirts would allow. By the end of the decade, most colleges that admitted women had women's basketball teams, all outfitted in bloomers. Across the nation's campuses, baggy bloomers were paired with blouses to create the first women's gym uniforms. The rainy daisy was a style of walking or sports skirt introduced during this decade, allegedly named after Daisy Miller, but also named for its practicality in wet weather, as the shorter hemlines did not soak up puddles of water. They were particularly useful for cycling, walking or sporting pursuits as the shorter hems were less likely to catch in the bicycle mechanisms or underfoot, and enabled freer movement. Swimwear was also developed, usually made of navy blue wool with a long tunic over full knickers. Day dresses typical of the time period had high necks, wasp waists, puffed sleeves and bell-shaped skirts. Gowns had a squared decolletage, a wasp-waist cut and skirts with long trains. Influence of aesthetic dress The 1890s