RELATED SEARCHES
Sponsored Swimsuit Results:
The History Of Swimsuits
By:
Published: October 4, 2006
The use of bathing apparel began in the public bath houses of ancient Greece and Rome. Though Greek women often bathed naked, ancient Romans wore suits resembling the modern day bikini, as evidenced by mosaics found at the Piazza Armernia in Sicily, which are decorated with drawings of bikini-clad women.
Alas, all good things must come to an end and, when the Roman Empire fell, so did the tradition of public bathing, or bathing for that matter. Throughout the Middle Ages, the Enlightenment and well into the 18th century, public bathing and swimwear fell out of fashion. Some even felt that public bathing was immoral. Thankfully, a wave of spas and resorts sprung up along European coastlines in the 18th and 19th centuries, reintroducing public bathing, swimwear and hygiene. However, these bathing suits were not the bikinis of ancient Greece and Rome; they were more like heavy woolen smocks.
Yes, the educated, respectable men and women of the Victorian era wore woolen dresses to go swimming. These swimsuits were constructed from wool to prevent any of the sexual allure the naked body possesses beneath sheer, wet clothing. When fully saturated, these bathing smocks weighed nine pounds.
It took a daring Australian woman named Annette Kellerman to propel the one-piece swimsuit into mainstream acceptance. She was arrested in 1907 for wearing the loose-fitting, one-piece number. At this time, suits for men and women consisted of a tank top, shorts and bathing socks. Women required a bathing cap.
Soon after Kellerman's daring foray into revealing swimwear, designers began making lighter, more stylish swimsuits which slowly started to reveal more skin. The decadent era of the roaring 1920s and 1930s increasingly saw swimming as a recreational sport influenced by French resort swimwear. No longer were women constricted by heavy woolen dresses, bathing suits were now being designed to expose the body.
In 1946 the bikini was invented and swimsuits became significantly smaller. At the French fashion show debuting his bikini invention, Louis Reard quipped that, ‘‘It was so small that it revealed everything about the girl except her mother's maiden name.'' Though the first bikinis were modest by today's standards, they caused quite a stir when they debuted.
Though bikinis quickly caught on with French women, American women's modesty initially prevented them from wearing the bikini. They finally caught on to the European-inspired swimwear when film stars like Rita Hayworth and Eva Gardner pranced about onscreen in high-heels and bikinis. Once American women caught on, designers were free to experiment with fabrics and styles.
By the mid-1950s, some designers actually used fur in their swimsuit designs – think Raquel Welch in One Million Years B.C. – but soon turned a nose on the trend when they realized how hard it is to swim in fur. In 1964, Rudi Gernreich invented the monokini – a topless bikini.
In the 1970s when feminists burned their bras, they too burned the concept of idealizing the female form and swimwear reflected it. Swimsuits were sometimes made of cotton and bra tops had no padding. Nothing lifted or separated the breasts; everything hung loose and natural. Swimsuit fashion tends to reflect the state of politics and so it did through the 1970s, 1980s into the present day.
Sources:
‘History of the Swimsuit.'' SwimsuitStyle.com. 4 October 2006. HTTP://www.swimsuit-style.com/swimsuit.html/
History of Swimwear. Bikini International. 4 October 2006. http://sexycreations.com/swim_history.htm/
Related Articles
Alas, all good things must come to an end and, when the Roman Empire fell, so did the tradition of public bathing, or bathing for that matter. Throughout the Middle Ages, the Enlightenment and well into the 18th century, public bathing and swimwear fell out of fashion. Some even felt that public bathing was immoral. Thankfully, a wave of spas and resorts sprung up along European coastlines in the 18th and 19th centuries, reintroducing public bathing, swimwear and hygiene. However, these bathing suits were not the bikinis of ancient Greece and Rome; they were more like heavy woolen smocks.
Yes, the educated, respectable men and women of the Victorian era wore woolen dresses to go swimming. These swimsuits were constructed from wool to prevent any of the sexual allure the naked body possesses beneath sheer, wet clothing. When fully saturated, these bathing smocks weighed nine pounds.
It took a daring Australian woman named Annette Kellerman to propel the one-piece swimsuit into mainstream acceptance. She was arrested in 1907 for wearing the loose-fitting, one-piece number. At this time, suits for men and women consisted of a tank top, shorts and bathing socks. Women required a bathing cap.
Soon after Kellerman's daring foray into revealing swimwear, designers began making lighter, more stylish swimsuits which slowly started to reveal more skin. The decadent era of the roaring 1920s and 1930s increasingly saw swimming as a recreational sport influenced by French resort swimwear. No longer were women constricted by heavy woolen dresses, bathing suits were now being designed to expose the body.
In 1946 the bikini was invented and swimsuits became significantly smaller. At the French fashion show debuting his bikini invention, Louis Reard quipped that, ‘‘It was so small that it revealed everything about the girl except her mother's maiden name.'' Though the first bikinis were modest by today's standards, they caused quite a stir when they debuted.
Though bikinis quickly caught on with French women, American women's modesty initially prevented them from wearing the bikini. They finally caught on to the European-inspired swimwear when film stars like Rita Hayworth and Eva Gardner pranced about onscreen in high-heels and bikinis. Once American women caught on, designers were free to experiment with fabrics and styles.
By the mid-1950s, some designers actually used fur in their swimsuit designs – think Raquel Welch in One Million Years B.C. – but soon turned a nose on the trend when they realized how hard it is to swim in fur. In 1964, Rudi Gernreich invented the monokini – a topless bikini.
In the 1970s when feminists burned their bras, they too burned the concept of idealizing the female form and swimwear reflected it. Swimsuits were sometimes made of cotton and bra tops had no padding. Nothing lifted or separated the breasts; everything hung loose and natural. Swimsuit fashion tends to reflect the state of politics and so it did through the 1970s, 1980s into the present day.
Sources:
‘History of the Swimsuit.'' SwimsuitStyle.com. 4 October 2006. HTTP://www.swimsuit-style.com/swimsuit.html/
History of Swimwear. Bikini International. 4 October 2006. http://sexycreations.com/swim_history.htm/
Featured Swimsuit Products:
