This film tells inspiring stories of trailblazing women who resisted social restrictions, refused to be held back and reimagined worlds that seemed off limits to them. We showcase the remarkable creativity of women in the late nineteenth century who invented radical new clothes to do all the things they were not meant to like flying, hiking, swimming, cycling and more!

There’s nothing ordinary about these extra-ordinary inventions – they’re convertible, reversible, and concealable. Yet, little is known about them today because many were hidden from history, hidden in the archives and, as it turns out, hidden in plain sight.

The film was funded by the European Research Council as part of the Politics of Patents project led by Kat Jungnickel from Goldsmiths, University of London, whose team of sewing social scientists reconstructed a collection of these century old inventions.

Along with Aneela McKenna of Mor Diversity, Alice Lemkes, Lee Craigie and Philippa Battye of The Adventure Syndicate reimagine the fun these women would have had pushing boundaries by transforming socially acceptable clothing into radical sports and active wear. Together, we bring these stories alive with the spirited energy that comes when women get together in the outdoors.

Women On The Move invites viewers into the past, into a veritable treasure trove of inventiveness and the extraordinarily ingenious ways that women have (always) challenged the status quo to do what they’ve loved while forging paths for future generations. Join us to see how our inventive foremothers set out to change the world stitch by stitch. It’s a story as relevant today as it was a century ago.