History of Bathing Suit

Bathing suits for women did not start out as a fashion item but rather something to wear to actually go bathe in. Over the years the style, material, design, and function of the bathing suit evolved. The bathing suit played a historical role for women, sex, gender roles, cross-cultural influence, and even body image and healthy weight (Layton, 2012, P.?)

Before bathing suits, around 200B.C to 500 A.d, women wore nothing at all or wore their version of the modern day bikini to bathe in. The more skin that showed meant the cleaner a person could get. Men and women did not share the bath houses so modesty was not an issue. The next era to change the style of the bathing suit was the Victorian era, late 1700s to 1800s, at which time modesty was key looked more dress like. This long bathing dress even consisted of weights to make sure it did not float up and black stockings to prevent see any see through material. This bathing suit style was seen in the upper-class. This era did go through some changes such as a jumpsuit, trousers and shirt set, and a one piece. Before the 1900s bathing suits were not functional to actually swim. Then in 1908, Annette Kellerman, known as the Australian mermaid, sewed men’s racing suits together and went to the beach. She was arrested and pleaded in court that she wanted something functional that she could swim and enjoy the water. She later was the first to start a line of women’s bathing suits (Feldman, 2011). Gender roles began to change by the start of the 20th century. Women received the right to vote and layers of bathing suit started to shed. In the early 1900s women started showing legs and shoulders in their bathing suit (Layton, 2012). Women felt liberated and dared to bare more and therefore it became more functional in terms to actually swim. This is a time where women got involved in competitive and leisure swim. During this time the bathing suit consisted of a one piece jumper that stopped at the thigh and was more form fitting, although it was still made of wool. It was definitely not stylish or attractive but it was useful. By 1930, the swimsuit took another new look and became a one piece that was much shorter than the jumpsuit but still covered the lower part of the woman’s body. Fashion in bathing suits really continued to push the boundaries that by 1946 the two pieces arrived. This was very shocking due to the fact that it left the belly button exposed. This was so controversial that even models refused to wear this item. In this time, “no decent girl would ever show in public” (Layton, 2012, p.5 para 2). Two designers came up with the design at the same time and it was shown both on the beaches of Cannes and on the Paris runway modeled by a stripper. In the next couple of