The history of vintage Swimwear

The history of vintage Swimwear

Melissa Jones
Created by Melissa Jones (User Generated Content*)User Generated Content is not posted by anyone affiliated with, or on behalf of, Playbuzz.com.
On Jun 15, 2018
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The history of vintage Swimwear

In the modern age, there are a number of women swim suits styles available, unlike a few years ago. Things have changed greatly over time and the fashions being witnessed today are just the evidence of human evolution. Everyone is always looking for something new today, which create the need to have them. Sometimes there is not even much to look up to. Only few adjustments are made here and there and they seem to be whole new idea.

The women fashion however has gone through a tremendous change over the time. Many attires and styles have come and gone, is even hard to imagine if there is anything else to invent. Yet, they just keep bringing up new idea.

Swimwear for women has also gone through a great metamorphosis. If you compare the one piece vintage style swimwear or the vintage bikini fashion of today with what was worn a few decade ago, the difference is just great. In fact, there is nothing similar between what we see now and what women were known to wear back then.

Today, every type of women swim wear seems to have many different versions of it. This is all in the name of fashion. The 1950’s swim wear for women for example, meant more covering of the body. Compare them with something like a vintage bikini or any vintage swimwear today. One would wonder why they are called vintage in the first place.

How was it back then?

Vintage swimwear was just a one style clothing back then with not much cleavage of any part of the body. The modern society has taken things to a complete new level. If you wanted to choose a swimsuit today, you may be easily overwhelmed by the number of styles and options that seem to be endless. It is not very easy to choose from all of them.

There is the minimalist one-piece for those who like simplicity. The retro-style separates are another style that dictates the world today. the skimpy triangular bikini that is all revealing among many others. Even the vintage swimwear we see today was never like that. We could maybe say that technology and scientific innovations have take over the world, perhaps, to make it better place.

The vintage collection we see today has surprising similarities with the traditional swimwear but it is nothing close. Let us look at some stages through which the swimwear have travelled

Mid-1800s and 1990s

During this time, the freedom and strength of a woman might not have been realized as much. As results what women wore to the beach is the same cloth they would wear to any other accession.

In the 1800s especially, the swimwear was a long cumbersome full dress that could not allow women to swim comfortably. As a result, they opted to wading only without much fun. There was a rule to keep their legs covered and therefore skirts were weighted down with lead.

Things lightened up just a little bit in the 1900s but not enough to give the desired freedom for comfortable swimming. There was police patrol on the shore to stop any woman who seemed to show too much. However, this is the period when stocking emerged and a one piece style with a knew length skirt.

1920s and 40s

The 20s is the period when the World War 1 was witnessed. After the war was over, the one-piece or the one commonly known as maillot emerged. They are however nothing close to the tight fitting we see today.

Sleeker styles started appearing in the 40 after the World War II. Some of the styles we see today started becoming normal. This is after the rationalization after WWII and the idolization of hourglass figure.

The new stretchy fabric started appearing on the market which also included built in brassieres and even stomach panels. As seen here, swimming for women started becoming more a fun activity.

1960s and 80s

This is the period when things fully lightened up. Most of the vintage collection we see today originated from the 60s, The 80s saw an echo of what had happened in the 60s. Fashion changed to more athletic, fuller-breasted bodies. The red color took over the beaches then.

1990s and 2000s

The vintage swimwear continued to see more changes. During the 90, swim wear now split into two major categories with obsession on designers. In the 2000s, women swimwear was focused on individualizing women looks. The vintage wear was not so much visible during this period.

2010s

This is perhaps the period when swimwear went back to the basics as witnessed today. If you read full article here, you will realize the 1950’s swimwear have been pulled back into play.

What we are seeing today is an extension of what has happened before, only that it is made better as seen the above article.

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