Swimming Suits

Swimming suits or swimsuits date back to Victorian times. While, arguably, some individual cultures have had some form of swimwear, the swimsuit as we know it is a product of the Victorian age. It did not look, however, anything like the SI swimsuit fashions. Victorian men and women wore bathing suits.

Bathing became popular during the 1800s. People went to the beaches to bathe. The proper attire for both women and men were the opposite of sheer swim wear. Victorian outfits were completely concealing. A bathing suit covered women, in particular, from head to foot. As opposed to freeing, the clothing entrapped. A sheer swimsuit was completely out of the question in a time when the ideal of female modesty reigned supreme.

In the 1900s, the increased popularity of swimming invited gradual change. Earlier completely cumbersome and woolen outfits became outdated. The black knee-length swim wear with its puffy sleeves, made of wool, long black stockings , bloomers and lace-up bathing slippers proved to be awkward and burdensome. The new swim suit for women, in this period, allowed them to reveal more skin. Women began to show off their arms and, daringly, some of their legs, although the legs still continued to sport matching stockings and laced up bathing shoes. Some women proved to be more adventurous than others. In fact, in 1909, Annette Kellerman, the Australian swimming sweetheart, bared herself in what the moral public felt to be a daring (and scandalous) one-piece tank-suit. The police arrested her.

Women who were also swimming athletes began to demand greater freedom. The old outfits prohibited easy movement and trapped water. Face races were simply not possible. By 1920, many women were wearing one-piece swimsuits. From here, the swimsuit models evolved from a heavy one-piece tank suit into two-piece swim suits to bikinis.

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In 1972, the East German female swim team rocked and shocked the world with their variation on the competitive swimsuit. They appeared in “skinsuits.” These outfits shocked the public but attracted notice among their competitors. In these skinsuits, the East German women sliced through the water breaking records.

Today, many swimmers wear skinsuits. Furthermore, the swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated (SI Swimsuit Edition) reveals how much things have changed, just glance at any single swimsuit model. Models, including swimsuit model Coco Nicole Austin, wife of actor and rapper Ice-T, tyra Banks, Serena Williams, Kathy Ireland , Heidi Klum and Ulla, appear in the latest and skimpiest swimwear. Sometimes the women appear more like swimsuit lingerie models. What they wear does not look like it would survive a strong wave or a cannonball.