History of Swim Suits
Swimming has been around since man first discovered that getting in a body of water was fun, a way to bathe, or an answer as to how to cross the water. There are even drawings inside a cave near what is now Libya, that date from about 7000 B.C. that depict men swimming. Swim suits, however, have not been around nearly as long. Originally people wore whatever they happened to have on- loin cloth, britches and shirt, togas- or what they did not have on; in other words, they swam nude. Public bathes were important and although some were taken in the all-together, most people wore some type of clothing. During the Middle Ages public bathing was considered scandalous and so any swimming was normally done in private. Then somewhere around the time of the Georgian Age (1714 to 1830) it became popular for the aristocrats to visit the mineral spas and public bathing came back in vogue. The Victorian Age (roughly during the reign of Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1901), was actually the first time when swimsuits, often called bathing suits, became a piece of clothing set for that very purpose. But the swim suits of that era do not bear much resemblance to what we consider a swimsuit to look like today.
During the Victorian Age it was considered to be proper to cover up much of the human body so swim suits followed that pattern and women’s bathing suits in the beginning often had long sleeves and a long skirt over a pair of pantaloons. The material of choice was wool or flannel and sometimes the hems were weighted to keep the dress from floating. Not exactly the streamlined version we are used to today. And those who were very fashionable had matching hats. By the mid-1800’s the ‘dress’ part was shorter in length and the sleeves were also shorter. By the way, pantaloons were sometimes called bloomers, a name associated with Amelia Bloomer (1818-1894), a women’s advocate who promoted a change in women’s dress that would be less restrictive for normal activities.
It wasn’t until after World War I (1918) that women’s swim suits barred the arms and the neckline began to creep down. Suits then were often one-piece tank suits, still in wool or flannel, which sometimes had a band at the waist. They were not known for their attractiveness but they were a vast improvement over their predecessors in allowing the wearers to be able to actually swim. In the 1930’s swimsuits became more fitted and made from cotton. This style was enhanced as movie stars began to make a splash- think Esther Williams in the mid-1940’s.
The infamous bikini- a two-piece suit with a bra top- was actually re-invented in 1946. (A bikini-like attire was known as early as 1600 B.C.) The bikini, as we know it was, was named after the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands, site of WW II action. This swimsuit has undergone several changes, most of them making the two-piece suit smaller and smaller, until now it is often nothing more than three triangles held together by string.
Swimsuits today come in a variety of styles that make it possible for everyone to find a style that flatters them. (Check out a podcast on this very thing by going to www.WomensStyleNetwork.com.) And the materials used are much more comfortable than wool or flannel. As the saying goes, “We’ve come a long way, baby.”
