This History of Swimwear!

Hello Dolls!

It's that time again and we just got in some amazing retro style swimsuits. Here's a little history of swimwear:

1900s: By the end of the 19th century people were flocking to the oceanside beaches for popular seaside activities such as swimming, surf bathing, and diving. The clumsy Victorian-style bathing costumes were becoming burdensome. A need for a new style bathing suits that retained modesty but was free enough to allow the young lady to engage in swimming was obvious.

1920s: By the early 1920s women’s bathing suits were reduced to a one piece garment with a long top that covered shorts. Though matching stockings were still worn, vintage swimwear began to shrink and more and more flesh was exposed from the bottom of the trunks to the tops of the stockings. By the mid-1920s Vogue magazine was telling its readers that “the newest thing for the sea is a jersey bathing suit as near a maillot as the unwritten law will permit.”  1940S: World War II rationing and the idolization of the hourglass figure lead to sleeker styles—like Ava Gardner's chic polka-dot two-piece, made voluptuous with new stretch fabrics, built-in brassieres, and stomach panels. 1960S: Though "invented" in 1946, the navel-baring bikini didn't become mainstream until the mid-'60s, accompanied by softer, skimpier tops with skinnier straps. No one nailed this look better than Brigitte Bardot. 1980S: Fashion's fixation with the extremely slender gave way to more athletic, fuller-breasted bodies. Sporty styles came into vogue, epitomized by the red one-pieces worn by the Baywatch cast at the end of the decade. 1990S: Swimwear fashion split into two camps in this designer-obsessed decade: the ostentatiously glamorous, heavy on gold satin and logos, and the minimalist, seen in the clean lines of Naomi Campbell's Hermès suit. 2010S: Ladylike elegance returns to the beach, with 1950s-era silhouettes, favored by trendsetters like Taylor Swift, making an unexpected comeback alongside more modern styles, featuring ruffled or scallopped necklines. Sources: http://www.victoriana.com/library/Beach/FashionableBathingSuits.htm http://www.instyle.com/fashion/history-of-swimsuits-evolution-bathing-suits#1309846