Swimwear: The Development Story of the Most Daring Garment

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

None of our wardrobe items have been subjected to such violent censorship and severe criticism as a bathing suit in the process of their change. This type of clothing at all times was "the limit of what was permitted", showed the boundaries of moral principles. Its evolution can tell a lot about the customs of the respective eras.

Antiquity. Anticipating the time

It is customary to begin the story of the development of the bathing suit from ancient times, because, thanks to the Roman frescoes of the beginning of the 4th century preserved in Sicily, we can talk about the analogue of the modern bikini swimsuit that existed at that time.

There is, of course, a caveat: the girls on the fresco clearly do not swim, but are engaged in active sports. It is possible that they are the dancers performing the show. But, nevertheless, their clothes are as similar as possible to the one that will blow minds in the middle of the 20th century. However, up to this moment - another 1, 5 millennia, and most of this time will pass under the harsh sign of asceticism and denial of many of the natural needs of the human body.

Middle Ages

From this period, there is little information about how bathing took place. Most likely, special costumes did not exist then, because in times of strict morality, this process itself already seemed too much of a liberty, and for women there could be no talk of any publicity at the same time. However, it is known that in France, at the time of Louis XIV, ladies and gentlemen swam in the same underwear. In the strict Spanish court, such liberty, of course, could not even have been imagined.

New time

Only by the middle of the 18th century, with the appearance of the first resorts, ladies were able to take water procedures in public places. To do this, they used the first specially tailored bathing suits. Although, according to our standards, they could also be used as winter clothes: the outfit included harem pants, a knee-length outer dress, stockings, shoes and a hat or cap (all elements were required). To maintain decency (so that the hem of the dress does not float), the bottom was weighted with special weights.

Around the same time, a design called "Bathing Machine" appears. It was a trailer on wheels, which, with the help of a horse, was dragged directly into the reservoir. The lady could change there, go out on the ladder into the water, and after bathing, dry herself off and put herself in order. Bathing machines were used until the First World War.

In the 19th century, the bathing suit is gradually getting rid of unnecessary details. By the end of the century, ladies could even afford to be in the water without stockings. At that time, men already had a striped leotard that was revolutionary for its time. Of course, this is happening in France.

XX century - time of changes

The beginning of the last century in the millennium was marked by cardinal changes in the consciousness of people: melancholy and aristocratic pallor disappeared into oblivion, tanning and fit figures became fashionable. The development of sports played a significant role here. At the end of the 19th century, swimming became one of the Olympic disciplines, and changes in swimwear were not long in coming. Male swimmers first appeared in public in swimming trunks, which shocked her at first. And one of the first female swimmers, Annette Kellerman, was even arrested in 1907 on a Boston beach "for indecent behavior." She dared to sew a bathing suit herself, similar to a man's, and demonstrate it in a public place.

However, the process of reducing the fabric in the swimsuit was already unstoppable. By the 20s, only shorts, connected to a blouse (oh, horror, even without sleeves!) Remained from him. At this time, male moral guardians (often policemen) were constantly on duty on the beaches. They had to check the length of the swimwear above the knee. In the event of a violation, the woman was fined and expelled from the beach.

Explosive novelty

After World War II, women were finally rewarded with something that generations of their great-grandmothers could not have dreamed of. A two-piece bathing suit called the "bikini" was invented. Its creator was the designer Louis Reard (of course, French!). However, to be more precise, more than 10 years earlier, in 1932, Jacques Hein had already created a bathing suit from separate bodice and swimming trunks with a skirt. But he was probably too ahead of his time. Even in 1946, when Luis Reard presented his novelty, only one model agreed to demonstrate it (dancer and stripper Micheline Bernardini). The name of the new swimsuit was chosen in honor of the sensational event at that time - the nuclear bombing of the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.

Even at this time, the new format of the bathing suit took root hard - it took about 10 years for the public to get used to it. At first, the bikini was condemned for "revealing almost everything in a woman except her maiden name."

However, in subsequent years, this bathing "nuclear explosion" so quickly destroyed the ancient foundations that literally a few decades later, "monokinis", and "minikinis", and "bikini-thongs" appeared, so today beach fashion does not allow a woman modesty to hide their dignity.

Another 26 unique photos of retro swimwear in the article "Hollywood summer: sultry divas of the 1940s, who still captivate with their beauty"