Bathing skirts were very popular on the beaches of the time.
In 1915, a group of rebels challenged the tradition. With the slogan “skirts – no!” these California girls want just one thing: bathing suits, in which they will be able to swim. We have long been accustomed to the swimwear of one or two elements, but 50 years ago, the girls barely managed to bathing skirts and dresses have become comfortable for swimming.
Striped swimming suit was popular among men in the early twentieth century. Women were also the standard costume on the beach: a dress or a skirt.
Sometimes bathing skirts and dresses were remade from his own everyday, but frequently bought them separately. Compared with the swimming suits of our time, then men and women costumes were much more closed. However, women’s bathing suits is very much paralyzed the movement in the water.
Here a group of girls from Cincinnati. By today’s standards, their costumes can be considered official:
According to the poll of the magazine “Everybody’s” from 1902, swimming costumes were often silk, though not always, they were worn with knickers or, more rarely, with tights.
Such costumes were not just fashion trends, follow them strictly followed. In the early XX century on many of the beaches were imposed dress code. In one of his books on pop culture of the 1920-ies described an incident on the beach in Chicago: there was a tailor who remade too revealing. This happened everywhere. In 1915 on Coney island was banned bathing stockings below the knee in WA was measured by the length of the bathing skirts.
Hard to tell how these suits affect the safety of the girls when swimming. But they were clearly impractical, and many of the girls simply refused to swim.
The appearance of the usual swimwear, thanks to the 1920-th years
As closed costumes turned into a conservative, but recognizable swimwear? This process took time and happened in different places at different times.
According to the articles of the time, the West coast played an important role in this process. That there were skirt shorts and spread bathing suits as we know them today. In 1915 in Portland bathing suits the old cut was declared unsafe. They are not suited for an active lifestyle. In the end, on the East coast and the Midwest, it was agreed that these suits are impractical.
The East coast has resisted all changes, which began in the West. For example, at the same time in Washington several men forced to wear swimming skirts for decent form.
Even in 1922, the journals recommended swimming wool skirts (because they sit well). These women are wearing wool bathing suits, though a more modern cut:
As Western influence grew in the 1910s and 1920s, the years, the attitude towards bathing costumes had also changed. After a while the beaches looked like this (this is California, 1930):
Was there a girl-an opponent skirts the cause of the revolution in bathing clothes? Unlikely. They certainly weren’t the only cause of this revolution. Such large-scale change is impossible to attribute credit for a small group of girls.
However, they are a vivid example of change in scale, what changes is not so much in fashion as practicality. They are representative of girls who wanted more from a beach holiday.
They just wanted to swim.
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