Life is simple: Just add water
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Walking on a bustling street in New Delhi, India, a few years ago, I encountered a cluster of monks encircling and escorting a naked monk, who had rejected all earthly material goods, including clothing. To protect him from public view, his acolytes surrounded him as he walked through the city. You may well wonder what this has to do with the history of bathing suits. Well, the connection is found in the mid to late 1800’s of Europe and America.
Physicians had, by the 1800’s, declared seawater a curative for most ailments and the fashionable crowd began to take dips into the ocean. Modesty was then so highly prized that a corseted woman wearing stockings, bloomers and petticoats under a long gown of wool or linen was escorted from the beach to the water enclosed in what was referred to as a “bathing machine”—a mobile cabana-like structure that protected her from public view until she was immersed in the water. Unlike the Indian monk, she was covered from head to toe but still secreted from view. How we evolved from the protection of bathing machines to the blatant exposure of bikinis (or less) is a revealing history.
By the early 1900’s, exercise was growing in popularity and women began competitive swimming but were still wearing long dresses in which to swim. In 1907, Annette Kellerman, a successful competitive swimmer from Australia, came to the U.S. and laughed at this foolishness. She herself wore, and advocated for, a form fitted one-piece suit with shorts above the knees in which to compete. Startling as this was to Americans, the advantages were too obvious to ignore and the 1912 female Olympic swim team adopted Kellerman’s sleeveless tops and shorts (see Too Hot To Handle: The Coolest Styles). Kellerman had launched a tidal wave that swept Victorian dress out to sea. By the 1920’s, the doors of freedom had been opened and women came roaring through.
The Jantzen swimwear line was launched in the 1920’s offering bright colors, practical, sleek, designs and promoted with one of the earliest fashion logos: “The Diving Girl,” in a red one piece suit. Along with blue jeans, T shirts, tube tops and sportswear, the Jantzen swimwear line was an all American fashion contribution. By the 1930’s-1940’s, new stretch fabrics that hugged the body tempted Hollywood to plunge into glamorous swim-themed movies.
Posing and strutting in one piece bathing suits that fully exposed legs, Hollywood stars like Marilyn Monroe, Bridgette Bardot and Elizabeth Taylor added to the excitement of swimming sensation, Esther Williams, as she dove, swam and frolicked her way through block buster movies. But soon a bomb blast was to shred this glamourous swimwear to pieces when Frenchman, Jacques Heim, introduced a two-piece suit he called the “Atome,” in 1946.
His design was soon sunk by Louis Réard (a former automobile engineer, who took over his mothers lingerie business). Réard, was a savvy opportunist and he introduced his infamous “Bikini” four days after nuclear tests were completed on Bikini Atoll. Its explosive shock was that it exposed the naval. Considered too revealing for reputable models to wear, he hired a nude dancer to model it. It took until the 1960’s for society to come up for air after this shock, perhaps helped along the path to acceptance by Rudi Gernreich’s monokini that covered the navel but exposed the breasts!
California beach culture combined with the sexual revolution and counter culture lifestyles refashioned attitudes and the bikini was embraced as a leading symbol of changing norms. By the 1970’s it had shrunk to a string bikini or was fashioned in a peek-a-boo crocheted knit. The iconic 1976 Farrah Fawcett swim suit poster ushered in the growing fitness craze of the 1980’s. Lycra, bold neon colors, plunging necklines paired with high cut bottoms showed off aerobically, toned bodies. Fashion designers on both sides of the Atlantic featured swim wear in their collections.
Today we have UV protective, chlorine resistant and compression fabrics. The entire array and history of beach wear is available to fit any need, body type or style preference. Bathing suits reflect as much as any clothing the history of evolving societal norms, technological advances, body types and fashion preferences. From cover-it-all to barely-there-bikinis, it’s easy to choose your Purely Personal beach style— just add water!
