Some garments worn for sport strongly resembled casual daywear — skating jackets and golf and tennis ensembles, for example. This charming ensemble features a "middy" style blouse, which was named after a naval garment worn by midshipmen. Children were first dressed in sailor suits in the mid-nineteenth century, and the style also became fashionable for women’s sport and leisure activities. Lightweight, washable fabrics and simple embellishments characterized the readily mass-produced designs.

During the 1920s, the knitwear and sporty dresses of Gabrielle Chanel, Jane Régny, and Jean Patou also blurred distinctions between active sportswear and fashionable dress. With a loose fit and pleated skirt, a simple Chanel dress, though rendered in crepe de chine as opposed to white cotton, looked remarkably like a garment worn for tennis. In 1927, Elizabeth Hawes, as Paris correspondent for the New Yorker’s fashion column, advised that fashionable clothing could be suitable for sports. "For all afternoon occasions, including golf," Hawes noted, "you wear your luncheon costume."