Over the centuries, our wardrobes have undergone drastic metamorphoses. It was influenced not only by tastes and clothing preferences, but above all by social conventions, new trends in art, and even the development of industry! Especially in the case of women, some items of clothing became a reflection of emancipation, emphasizing the process of liberation in various areas of life. One of them was a swimsuit. Get to know its amazing history.
In ancient times people didn't swim in the seas or rivers for fun, the beaches seemed too scary. They bathed in private or public baths with separate rooms for men and women. Since the baths were not co-educational, they did not require any special garments. After washing, all you had to do was wipe yourself with a towel and put on your clothes. During exercise, the men also appeared naked, without sports clothes. Besides, they didn't have to worry about them, because women couldn't train in gymnasiums.
Especially in the case of women, some items of clothing became a reflection of emancipation, emphasizing the process of liberation in various areas of life. One of them was a swimsuit.
It could be concluded that there was no need to create and wear swimwear or even sports suits back then. However, the preserved mosaics from the Roman Villa Romana del Casale from the beginning of the 4th century CE. they show the images of women wearing short tops or loincloths and panties . These two-piece swimwear look deceptively like a modern bikini, but it's hard to tell if they were for swimming.
The women depicted in the mosaics probably compete with each other in sports competitions - they run, play football, lift weights, throw a discus. The attributes shown to the winner - palm leaf and crown - can testify to the competition. Perhaps in antiquity, women exercised in clothes that functioned as sportswear, but were hardly ever swimmable.
In the Middle Ages, as in antiquity, there was no need to create special bathing suits. There were still public baths, everyday people were washing themselves over the bowl or in portable tubs. If someone tried to swim in a river or lake, he did it naked, or in a shirt that served as underwear. The era of bathing suits was yet to come - and not necessarily as we know it today.
Necessity is the mother of invention
At the end of the 17th century, trips to spas became fashionable. Seawater was believed to have remarkable healing properties and help to get rid of various diseases, including tuberculosis infections, melancholy, menstrual problems, impotence and "hysteria".
While there was no official ban on naked bathing in Britain until the mid-nineteenth century, each city could legislate its own, so in most places you had to enter the water properly dressed - women in long dresses, men in long-sleeved coats and underpants.
While there was no official ban on naked bathing in Britain until the mid-19th century, each city could legislate its own, so in most places you had to enter the water properly dressed - women in long dresses
The then men's attire can still be considered relatively comfortable, which cannot be said about women's shirts. They were made of quite heavy materials, such as flannel, linen or even wool, in which it was difficult to swim, but they were strong and most importantly - they did not show through when wet, protecting the female body from aggressive men's eyes.
The clothes often floated after entering the water, so some women sewed lead weights into the hem of their dresses to weight them down. As a result, the women did not have to worry that they would unknowingly show their legs, which was considered very offensive.
Modesty above all
At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, people used to bathe in seas and lakes not only for medicinal purposes, but also for recreational purposes. Vacationing on the beach was becoming more and more popular. As a result of social changes, women appeared in public spaces more often. And when they did appear, they were required to do so in appropriate clothing.
Appropriate, that is, one that covers them from the neck to the feet, even on the beaches and in the water. Previous "bathing dresses" were replaced with the first, specially designed for swimming, swimwear. The women's costume consisted of a dress fastened to the neck with frilled, long sleeves, stockings covering the entire legs and the so-called blommers, i.e. panties / pantaloons with wide legs reaching at least to the knees. These panties are named after American women's rights activist Amelia Bloomer, who stressed the need to reform women's clothing.
photo:Peterson's Magazine / public domain The previous "bathing dresses" were replaced with the first, specially designed for swimming, bathing suits.
Although the nineteenth-century women's bathing suit was very built-up (and certainly did not facilitate swimming), it was controversial. This is due to the bloomers, which - from a technical perspective - resembled pants, and these could only be worn by men.
Arrest for tight bathing suit
At the end of the 19th century, women's swimsuits were made of lighter and more airy materials, and sleeves could be omitted, but the legs still had to be covered, although the legs of the costumes became shorter over time.
At the beginning of the next century, water sports became popular, also among women. Swimming was included in the Olympics as early as 1896, but women were not allowed to compete until 1912. Women's costumes needed to be transformed so that they could swim quickly and efficiently.
Annette Kellerman in a one-piece swimsuit
A few years earlier, swimmer Annette Kellerman began to wear an outfit resembling a circus leotard. Needless to say, such an outfit was not widely accepted, so Kellerman sewed long stockings to the outfit - nevertheless she was arrested in 1907 for showing off in public.
However, in 1912, women wore tight-fitting costumes during a swimming competition. This started a series of changes in women's beach fashion. In the 1920s, the arms and thighs were exposed without embarrassment, and the outfits, sewn from tight and flexible materials, were one-piece - for example with a strongly cut back and a deep neckline - or two-piece, consisting of a top or a bra and high-waisted panties . However, the real revolution was yet to come.
Bomber bikini
In 1946, there was a shocking breakthrough in swimwear - the first bikini was designed. First, in May, French fashion designer Jacques Heim proposed a minimalist two-piece outfit that still covered the navel and called it Atome. And in July, engineer Louis Réard created a costume consisting of only four triangles of fabric connected with a string . This design already revealed a very large part of the abdomen, back and thighs. Réard referred to it as "bikini", referring to Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands archipelago in the Pacific Ocean, where nuclear weapons tests were carried out in 1946 and the detonation of the hydrogen bomb.
Réard argued that his design was as bombastic and explosive as the explosions, which is why he chose that name. He was right - the bikini he created was shocking and scandalous that hardly anyone wanted to advertise it, let alone wear it in public.
photo:Florida Memory / public domain It wasn't until the 1960s that bikini gained popularity with the advent of the sexual revolution and the advent of the first counterculture movements
Until the end of the 1950s, it was suggested to wear costumes with more high-waisted bras and high-waisted panties covering most of the belly, including the navel, but there were many brave ladies who did not mind social disapproval and proudly displayed their clothes designed by Louis Réard.
Only in the 1960s, with the advent of the sexual revolution and the emergence of the first counter-cultural movements , bikini gained popularity and became an inseparable element of a beach holiday . His fame was also influenced by cinema and films, which starred famous actresses dressed in such attire.
In the following years, designers continued to experiment with the form of women's bathing suits. In 1964, Rudi Gernreich created a full-breasted monokini, which shocked the public again. The designer, however, did not care, and ten years later he invented the first thongs - for both women and men.
Today, all types of bathing suits are equally popular and willingly worn - one-piece, two-piece, more or less revealing. And if you really don't like scraps of cloth wrapped around your body while swimming, you can even be naked (though only on nudist beaches). Anyway - it's hard to find controversy…
Bibliography:
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- Dobkowska J., Wasilewska J., In the shade of a lace umbrella. About fashion and customs in the 19th century , Warsaw 2016.
- Fogg M., History of fashion , Warsaw 2016.
- Toussaint-Samat M., History of the dress, Warsaw 1997.
- Żebrowska K., Fashion revolutions. The extraordinary history of our wardrobes, Krakow 2019.