ON THE BEACH

ON THE BEACH - part I

                                BATHING BEAUTIES



It's official ! Summer is here, and with it summer dresses, bare legs and...bathing suits !

Fashion repeats itself and bathing suits are no exception to the rule...This season, for example, is seeing a revival of the 'pin up'  swimsuit with high waisted bottoms and draped bandeau tops.

So, to inspire and amuse you (hopefully..), before heading to the beach in all your swimsuit glory...here is a little bit of inspiration from Bathing Beauties, past and present. 



A itsy bitsy teenie weenie... music to go with...





It already starts here...back to... 

The Romans

Roman mozaic in Sicily - Villa Casale -... beach volley?

fast forward... yep... definitely beach volley !

Then nothing much seems to have happened in the swimsuit world until about...say...the 1800's... Swimsuit bathing began to appear as spa and resort towns started to expand throughout France and England. People would bathe in 'natural springs' as ways of displaying wealth and luxury.

Women bathers would change in these wooden carts and be 'wheeled' to the water so as not to expose their woollen swimming costume-clad bods...

we've come a long way baby...

Seaside holidays became more and more popular, giving people the opportunity to enjoy water activities. But women stll covered their arms and legs...until the scandal of 1907...

Annette Kellerman 

 Annette Kellerman was an Australian swimmer and filmstar, and pro-active ( A.K Rocked!) in promoting functional swimwear for women. She was arrested in 1907 in Boston for wearing a one-piece body suit (thigh length and sleeveless, men's style!!) at a swimming event.

Thanks to Annette, there was no stopping the one-piece and it became the norm for the next 40 years.

And the swimsuit kept evolving...

In the 1910's

With bolder motifs...( and yaay.. no sleeves)

In the 1920's

Some more daring than others here...

a sleeker, more body-hugging version...

Then,

The 1930's

A 'liberated' body becomes a 'healthy' body (with lots of  athletical showing off involved..)

 Vogue - 1932 -

Swimsuit fabric has evolved too, going from wool to comfier material like Lastex, the forerunner of Lycra.

There was nothing to make waves about until the next scandal broke out in 1946 ! One that was to shape the bathing suit industry FOR EVER !!

Louis Réard

This innocent looking man is responsible for a scandal that shook the bathing suit world in 1946 with the creation of the first BIKINI; aptly named after the atoll in the Marshall Islands where the US was testing the atomic bomb.

None of his regular models agreeing to wear this revolutionary creation, Réard had to hire Michelle Bernardini, a nude dancer from the Casino de Paris, to present this tiny bathing suit to the press. The press went crazy, the conservative society was outraged and Bernardini received 50,000 fan letters ! 

 

Michelle Bernardini wearing Réard's infamous Bikini

  Although featured in the US Harper's Bazaar of 1947, the Bikini wasn't to become acceptable before the 1950's and the 2-piece bathing suits of the 40's still covered more body. Louis Réard kept the polemic going about his scandalous bikini by saying that a 2-piece was not a real bikini unless it could be passed through a wedding ring (Réard's bikini, the 'shahtoosh of the 40's?...) and that his 'original' bikini could (and supposedly did) fit in a matchbox !

US Harper's Bazaar - 1947 - photo Toni Frissell

But, still, most 40's swimsuits looked like this...

Great Vogue cover by Horst - June 1940

Still emphasizing the benefits of sports and healthy lifestyles...

 

Promoted by Hollywood with Screen Goddess (and swimming champ...) Esther Williams

Bathing Beauty - 1944

 

Her own coloring book...

As for the more audacious... 

'Atome' - the 2-piece version of Réard's rival Jacques Heims

Still sporty, conservative and glamourous in...

The 1950's 

 
and a bikini worn by an unknown young french actress...

Brigitte Bardot in Cannes

The following decade, with the sexual revolution, spelled modernity and definitely 'liberated' the woman's body...

The 1960's

All pinked out and accessorized

Flower POW-er...

Movie moment...

 

Ursula Andress - Dr.No - 1962

 Some trends, on the other hand,  never really caught on...

Designer Rudi Gernreich's 1964 Monokini

How about this very low cut model...

The 1970's/ 1980's/ 1990's and Today...

Since the 1970's, bathing wear hasn't changed all that much. The Thong (a.k.a "dental floss") bikini appeared on the beaches of Brazil in the 1970's (perhaps the last 'osé' bathing suit item to date...)  and swimwear fashion in the 1980's were sexier with high cut suits that elongated the leg and often plunging or push up tops. Supermodels and actresses became swimwear queens and highly anticipated magazine special 'bathing suit' issues , (the most famous probably being that of 'Sports Illustrated') became standard press material come summer.

Christie Brinkley  - 1970's

Bo Derek's famous 'cornrows' in 10 - 1979

The Thing, Thang, Thong - Ipanema

Elle Mc Pherson - photo Gilles Bensimon - 1980's

Naomi Campbell - 1990's

Claudia Schiffer

Cindy Crawford

Nikki Taylor and Naomi - fit, fit, fit, for summer...

and as for today... pretty much anything goes....

From fit, sporty, sexy and mini...like Cameron Diaz

To fresher glamour with flowers

To the pin-up version of today...

But it doesn't matter what suit you choose, as long as it takes you to the water...

Happy diving...

she wore an itsy, bitsy, teenie, weenie....

A très vite...for part II - On the Beach - Quizz Time...




 credits:- wikipedia, pinterest, vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Elle, Sports Illustrated, ebay, glamoursplash.com, nastygal.com, pinkclouds.com, maritsa.com, authortonypiazza.com, google.fr, nairaland.com, vintagegal.tumblr.com, massivenews.com, newswalle.com, flickr.com, oldmagazinearticles.com, gizmag.com, soundcloud.com, travelblog.org, swimsuitologist.blogspot.ch, l'officielmode.com,