In the days of antiquity, and even much
later, everybody bathed (splashed around, swam) in the buff. Seems the
most comfortable way to go, so how in the name of Neptune did that get-up
from 1858 on the left come to be? Certainly there was no law against swimming nude even in the United Kingdom until the mid-19th century. Though prior to that,
towns were free to write their own laws against nude swimming. Bath, the
popular summer stomping ground of Britain’s upper crust, was a forerunner in the
cover-it-up trend. Take a look at the code of dress for men in the
Bath Corportation bathing code dress of 1737:
“It is Ordered Established and
Decreed by this Corporation that no Male person above the age of ten years
shall at any time hereafter go into any Bath or Baths within this City by day
or by night without a Pair of Drawers and a Waistcoat on their bodies.”
Needless to say, a lot of men in the United
Kingdom who were accustomed to splashing around in their birth suits didn’t think much
of that and continued to do as they pleased until nude swimming was eventually
banned in 1860. It was with much protest that they eventually pulled on their
drawers (calecons as they were called). However, it wasn’t until the 1870s when
the first men’s bathing suits came into being in the form of short red and
white striped drawers. Women also
bathed in the nude at the spas, but were forced to cover up by
the 1670s. Here’s a description of a ladies’ bathing costume written
by Celia Fiennes in 1687:
“The
Ladyes go into the bath with Garments made of a fine yellow canvas, which is
stiff and made large with great sleeves like a parson’s gown; the water fills
it up so that it is borne off that your shape is not seen, it does not cling
close as other linning, which Lookes sadly in the poorer sort that go in their
own linning. The Gentlemen have drawers and wastcoates of the same sort of
canvas, this is the best linning, for the bath water will Change any other
yellow.”
THE 18TH
CENTURY
In the 18th century, women wore "bathing gowns", long
dresses made of fabrics that wouldn’t become transparent when wet. Weights were
sewn into the hems so the skirts wouldn’t rise up in the water. Men wore a form-fitting wool garment with long sleeves and legs similar to underwear.
This style would change very little over the next one hundred years.
THE 19TH
CENTURY
It was in the 19th century that the woman’s
two-piece swimsuit first emerged. It was a gown that fell from the shoulders to the
knees and was worn with leggings going down to the ankles. In the United States,
beauty contests with women in bathing costumes became popular from the 1880s,
though they were generally frowned upon. |
| Annette Kellerman – Wikipedia |
A Splash of Scandal
It may seem unimaginable today, but in
1907, the Australian swimmer Annette Kellerman created a furor when she
appeared in an underwater ballet show in the United States wearing a swimsuit
that exposed not only her neck and her arms, but shocker of shockers, her legs!
It should come as no surprise Ms. Kellerman was arrested for indecent exposure.
But she later starred in several movies and ended up with a line of bathing
suits named after her, which goes to show infamy sometimes pays.
In 1913,
inspired by the introduction of women into Olympic swimming (and most likely Ms. Kellerman’s boldness), designer Carl Jantzen introduced the first functional
two-piece swimsuit.
By the early 1920s almost every bathing beauty could be seen at the
beach in a long top worn over
shorts. Decency prevailed, however. The body was covered from the neck to
almost the knees and matching stockings
were part of the ensemble.
 | |||
| 1910 swimming costumes |
In 1921, Jantzen Knitting Mills introduced the first one-piece ‘elastic’ suit, launching the wool knit bathing suit
for men and women that would be around for 15 years. Swimsuit maker Mabs of Hollywood created a more shapely look for women in the mid 1930s with Lastex, a satin
finish elastic and silk fabric used for
girdles.
 |
| Jean Harlow 1930s |
By the early 1940s the
two-piece swimsuit that allowed a peek at the midriff was stepping out onto American
beaches from sea to shining sea. Leading the parade were Hollywood stars such
as Esther Williams, Lana Turner and Rita Hayworth.
 |
| 1940s two-piece swimsuit |
No sooner had the sight of a little skin become the norm than there was a revolution
of unprecedented proportions in France. The bikini was unveiled in Paris on July 5, 1946 by French engineer Louis Réard
and designer Jacques Heim. When this itsy bitsy garment was revealed – modeled
by a nude dancer from the Casino de Paris because no model dared wear it – even
Parisian eyebrows shot up. The designers well knew they had created something explosive
and so named their creation after nuclear weapons tests at Bikini Atoll.
 |
| Micheline Bernardini models the first modern bikini |
But had Réard
come up with something new? A mosaic mural at Villa Romana del Casale in Sicily
shows women exercising in the 4th
century AD. What
they’re wearing looks a lot like a bikini to me.
In the 1950s, the bikini became less revealing with the bottom
covering the navel. Modesty had returned. But it would be a mere two decades
before the thong bikini took beaches by storm. American designer Rudi Gernreich
has been credited with introducing the thong bikini in 1974,
though some claim it first appeared on the beaches of Brazil in 1977. Wherever
the credit lies, the thong isn’t new either. The fundoshi,
a
thong-style garment, has been worn by Japanese men for swimming for
centuries. As I said in a previous post, what’s old is new again.
In 1990, the State of Florida told women to cover up, banning the thong
bikini from state beaches. The ban is still in effect, but it only covers 30
miles – about 4% of the Florida coastline. The thong bikini covers about 2% of an average size woman's body.
Sources: Wikipedia
Photo sources: Wikipedia, arts-stew.com, bobbinsandbombshells.blogspot.com, thekini.com
