In this uncharacteristically chilly cold weather in Southern California, are you dreaming of a beachside getaway as much as we are at the Bowers?
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Women's Swimsuit, early 20th Century
United States of America
Cotton; 19 3/4 x 35 3/4 in.
2010.20.1
Gift of Mrs. Bunny Lawson |
By 1900, people were flocking to the beach for popular seaside-oriented activities such as swimming, bathing, and diving. Competitive swimming was also a novelty and at the height of its popularity as people had more leisure time to take the available train routes to the seaside.
Upon the commencement of the 1900’s, the one-piece swimsuit came into existence. A revolutionary and notable figure in women’s seaside fashions was Aussie Annette Kellerman, who officially altered the way female beachgoers dressed for the remainder of the century. Born with a disability in her legs, she took up swimming as a child to strengthen them, and eventually became an athletic competitive swimmer; so talented that she was the first woman in history to attempt to swim the English Channel, as well as the River Seine and Thames.
Frustrated with the unnecessary folds of fabric, she developed a controversial form-fitting one-piece cotton swimsuit that unapologetically displayed the thighs and upper arms circa 1907. Before rayon was incorporated into the majority of women’s swimsuits, pure cotton streamlined swimsuits such as the one portrayed above were constructed to help women with the breathability and overall comfort of the fabric. A less sunshine-friendly predecessor to cotton was wool for ladies of all ages, but proved to be very heavy when soaked in water, as well as exposing far too much of the female form by clinging when wet.
When Miss Kellerman debuted her new design at Revere Beach in Boston in 1907, she was arrested for indecency, and had to argue her case in court, which she won. This was as long as she was swimming competitively, of course, and she had to make sure that a robe was concealing her figure until her competition time. Mind you, this was the time of the “bathing machine” which wheeled the bather right to the water and hid the woman until she could descend downwards at her utmost discretion. Regardless of what happened then, Annette Kellerman was a force for women, who influenced the future of swimsuits for the remainder of the 20thCentury.
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