History of Swimsuits

The unofficial start of summer began yesterday. Time to dig out that swimwear and be glad--be very glad--you don't swim during the Victorian era.

Nothing identifies the history of cultural modesty more than swimwear. But you might be surprised to learn that for most of history people, men and women, swam in the nude or stripped down to their underwear.

Bath clubs in ancient Roman featured nude swimming. But by the middle ages, public summing was discouraged or outlawed altogether.

Since then, swimwear has become increasingly more scanty and form fitting.

Most of my writing takes place during the 18th and 19th century, so I've run across some interesting tidbits regarding clothing. For example, these are the rules for public Baths for men, written in 1737:

"No male person above the age of ten years shall at any time hereafter go into any Bath within the city by day or night without a pair of drawers and a waistcoat on their bodies."

And for females: "No female person shall at any time hereafter go into a Bath by day or night without a decent shift on their bodies."

Restrictions grew for women in particular until they had to be covered from head "hats" to toes "shoes" during the Victorial era.

These restrictions applied to American women too. This is their swimsuit of the 1870s.


By the turn of the century, the tide had turned.
The lady below is from the Flapper period.

It was the Olympics that changed swimsuits into more practical designs, because, obviously, the cumbersome, heavy clothing restricted competitive swimming.

As with most of fashion, swimsuit design moved from one extreme to another. Before WWII, beaches might have a swimsuit inspector.  Now, many of the suits of today come as close to nude as possible. So we may have come full circle. Personally I think the swimsuits of the 1940s and 1950s were practical and modest.

(Photo credit: allthat'sinteresting.com)


I've never been the bikini type, and now I don't have the figure for one, so my swimsuit this year is a one-piece that holds everything together.

What about you?