During college, I had the opportunity to explore the intersection of fashion and sport, two things I am very passionate about. It began with a mural I designed in 2022 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Title IX at Denison University, a project that sparked a deeper curiosity about the history behind the legislation. That curiosity carried into my senior year, where through an independent study in studio art, I dove headfirst into researching the history of fashion, dress codes, and the barriers women have faced in athletics. The following body of work is the result of that journey and a celebration of the hardships women have overcome to participate in sports and a tribute to those who paved the way for future generations. Keep scrolling to see the full collection and learn more about what inspired it!
The Real Warriors
Independent Study
Sports have always been a huge part of my life. Growing up, learning to throw a football was the same type of skill as learning to ride a bike. I tried every sport when I was young — from basketball to tennis to swimming. I vividly remember being excluded from a soccer match in 4th grade because a boy in my class said I couldn't play just because I was a girl. That moment sparked something inside me to never let myself be excluded again based on my gender.
Luckily, as I matured, I didn't face any obvious sexism in sports. However, in college I started to realize the extent of gender inequality between men and women in athletics. For decades, women have faced sexism in sports. From what they were allowed to wear to running a race to receiving equal pay, the list goes on.
During my senior year, while conducting an independent study in studio art, I had the opportunity to do a deep dive into the intersection of athletics, arts, and fashion. I began my artistic process in the library researching the history of fashion, dress codes, and the very real constraints placed on female athletes throughout history, eventually compiling newspaper articles, academic journals, and photographs.
The patchwork dress was designed using old Denison men's sports uniforms making a quiet statement about the men whose stories have historically been celebrated.
The culmination of the project is the accompanying video which presents the work through a motivational lens and speaks directly to the social inequalities women have faced in sport for generations. The audio is drawn from Nike's 2019 Dream Crazier campaign, an advertisement narrated by Serena Williams that celebrates the resilience of female athletes despite being dismissed as "crazy" or "too emotional" and references legends like Billie Jean King and members of the US Women's National Soccer Team. In the video, I wear all three dresses and move through Denison's athletic facilities — inhabiting spaces that were not always meant for women.
The result was three garments, each addressing a different dimension of that inequality. The paper dress was created in Photoshop, collaging 100+ newspaper articles about the discrimination female athletes have faced. The back reads "Women are the real warriors. Spread the news" a playful nod to the lack of recognition women in sports have historically received.
The black dress addresses the scrutiny women face around what they wear when competing: objectified for their bodies, hypersexualized in how they are seen on display. The netting detail highlights the juxtaposition between that material as something provocative and its everyday role in sport.
The video opens and closes in front of the Athletic Hall of Fame, a wall lined predominantly with the faces of men, reflecting a legacy that didn't formally include women until the 1980s. Standing there in these dresses made from newspaper clippings, netting, and men's uniforms is a quiet but deliberate statement: we have always belonged here. Women are the real warriors.
Spread the news.
Where it all began:
50 Years of Title IX
During my sophomore year at Denison University, I was asked to serve as the student representative on the athletic department's Title IX Committee, tasked with finding a way to honor the women who built women's athletics on campus. I pitched the idea of a mural — a massive photo collage that would live in the athletic center for the whole campus to see. What followed was months of digging through library archives dating back to the 1800s and personally emailing every living female Denison athlete to share their photos and stories. The result is hundreds of images spanning over a century, installed permanently in the athletic center and unveiled in the fall of 2022 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Title IX. I'm especially proud of this piece which celebrates the strength of women in sports.
