A Brief History of Swimwear

There has been much change in swimwear styles over the course of history. When people started to bathe as a pastime the clothes they wore were, in some ways, similar to everyday clothing and almost covered the entire body. With both swimwear for women and swimwear for men this was very different to today.

Women’s Swimwear

In Georgian times it wasn’t considered acceptable for women to show their bare legs or feet so they used bathing machines to enter the water for bathing. Images of this would make us chuckle today but at the time using these wagon type vehicles to enter the water was the norm. Women would change in the bathing machines, which were rolled into the water. They would then directly enter the water from the bathing machines. The clothing worn was very unpractical, and were long bathing dresses covering everything apart from the feet and ankles.

By Victorian Times women were wearing two-piece swimming costume, though very different from the two-piece costumes we find now. Long shirts and belted three-quarter trousers were worn, and they almost looked like a jacket and trousers.

Gradually swimwear became more practical with tops becoming more like a shirt than a jacket. The bottom part became gradually shorter. In the mid-19th century more of the body started to be shown. Trousers now went to around the knee area and sleeveless tops became the norm. Not much earlier this would have been considered risqué, but is mild compared to today’s standards.

Around the 1930’s all-in-one bathing suits became common, with arms bare and the bottom part stopping below the thighs. For the first time women’s swimwear resembled something close to what you would find now.

Although they had been on the market for around thirty years, bikinis grew in popularity in the 1970’s. Many hadn’t deemed them appropriate in the 40’s but this was no longer the case after the fashion and cultural revolutions of the 50’s and 60’s.

Men’s Swimwear

There have not been as many changes in men’s swimwear over time, partly due to it having always been socially acceptable for men to show more of their bodies than women. The first highly documented men’s swimwear were so-called union suits worn in the 1800’s. This consisted of a thin jacket-like top with long sleeves and shorts that went down to the knee, akin to pyjamas. This fashion remained similar until the early 20th century, when shorts became shorter and tops became sleeveless, vest-like even.

The real change was in the 1950’s, when swimming shorts began to be worn and tops were no longer used. These were first introduced by Speedo and were, as they still are today, very much like boxer shorts in design and size. Swimming trunks were first worn in the 1960’s.

Swimwear Today

As far as women are concerned there haven’t really been any fundamental changes over the last few decades. Although design has altered and things have gone in and out of fashion, bikinis and all-in-one swimsuits remain the norm. For men it remains a choice between swimming shorts and swimming trunks. There are two main choices for both women and men. There are, though, many different designs, from cheap options to luxury designer swimwear.

Andrew Marshall ©