Got a girl crush on: Amelia Earhart

Happy birthday, Amelia! July 24, 1897 was the day Amelia Mary Earheart flew into this world. Yes, I have a crush on a 112 year old woman.

Long before In Living Color, there weren’t a lot of real-life fly girls. Amelia Earhart was the sixteenth woman to be issued her pilot’s license. That was waaaaay before Jennifer Lopez’s time.

A woman ballyhooed for her superlative achievements in aviation was also indeed quite fly. Before Chloë ever worked with Opening Ceremony, Erin Wasson ever worked with RVCA, and Mary Kate & Ashley ever had Elizabeth & James or The Row, Amelia Earhart was known as a fashion icon herself and also had her own celebrity line of clothing AND luggage. Women admired her short cropped hair, tight pants, and tiny leather jackets that one can only image were repurposed from the little boys departments since such garbs weren’t common in a woman’s armoire at the time.

The podcast Stuff You Missed in History Class recently did an episode called “The Amelia Earhart Mystery”. You can listen to that episode here.

(via Len Crockett)