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diff --git a/37586.txt b/37586.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..72a7b25 --- /dev/null +++ b/37586.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2569 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Women's Bathing and Swimming Costume in the +United States, by Claudia B. Kidwell + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Women's Bathing and Swimming Costume in the United States + +Author: Claudia B. Kidwell + +Release Date: October 1, 2011 [EBook #37586] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WOMEN'S BATHING AND SWIMMING *** + + + + +Produced by Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper, Harry Lame and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + +------------------------------------------------------------------+ + | | + | TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES: | + | | + | The original language has been maintained, including inconsisten-| + | cies in spelling and hyphenation, except as mentioned below. | + | | + | Changes made to the original text: 'chemise type' changed to | + | 'chemise-type' as elsewhere; page 17: closing square bracket | + | deleted after 'what an array'; page 65: quote mark inserted | + | before footnote anchor [65]. | + | | + | Footnotes have been moved to directly underneath the paragraph | + | or section they refer to. | + | | + | Texts printed in italics in the original publication have been | + | transcribed between underscores, as in _text_; bold-face text is | + | represented here between equal signs, as in =text=. Small | + | capitals in the original are transcribed as ALL CAPITALS. | + | | + +------------------------------------------------------------------+ + + + + +UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 250 + +CONTRIBUTIONS FROM + +THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY + +PAPER 64 + + +WOMEN'S BATHING AND SWIMMING COSTUME +IN THE UNITED STATES + + +_Claudia B. Kidwell_ + + + + + INTRODUCTION 3 + CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT 6 + BATHING COSTUME 14 + SWIMMING COSTUME 24 + CONCLUSIONS 32 + + +SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION PRESS + +CITY OF WASHINGTON + +1968 + + +For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing +Office Washington, D.C. 20402--Price 50 cents (paper cover) + +[Illustration: Figure 1.--BATHING COSTUME, from _The Delineator_, July +1884. (Smithsonian photo 58466.)] + + + + +_Claudia B. Kidwell_ + + +_Women's Bathing and Swimming Costume in the United States_ + + + _The evolution of the modern swim suit from an unflattering, + restrictive bathing dress into an attractive, functional costume + is traced from colonial times to the present. This evolution in + style reflects not only the increasing involvement of women in + aquatic activities but also the changing motivations for + feminine participation. The nature of the style changes in + aquatic dress were influenced by the fashions of the period, + while functional improvements were limited by prevailing + standards of modesty. This mutation of the bathing dress to the + swim suit demonstrates the changing attitudes and status of + women in the United States, from the traditional image of the + subordinate "weaker sex" to an equal and active member of the + society._ + + THE AUTHOR: _Claudia B. Kidwell is assistant curator of American + costume, department of civil history, in the Smithsonian + Institution's Museum of History and Technology._ + + + + +Introduction + + +Women's bathing dress holds a unique place in the history of American +costume. This specialized garb predates the age of sports costume which +arrived during the last half of the 19th century. Although bathing dress +shares this distinction with riding costume, the aquatic garb was merely +utilitarian in the late 18th century while riding costume had a +fashionable role. From its modest status, bathing gowns and later +bathing dresses became more important until their successor, the +swimming suit, achieved a permanent place among the outfits worn by 20th +century women. The social significance of this accomplishment was best +expressed by Foster Rhea Dulles, author of _America Learns to Play_, in +1940, when he wrote: + + The modern bathing-suit ... symbolized the new status of women + even more than the short skirts and bobbed hair of the jazz age + or the athleticism of the devotees of tennis and golf. It was + the final proof of their successful assertion of the right to + enjoy whatever recreation they chose, costumed according to the + demands of the sport rather than the tabus of an outworn + prudery, and to enjoy it in free and natural association with + men.[1] + + [1] FOSTER RHEA DULLES, _America Learns to Play, 1607-1940_ (New York: + D. Appleton-Century Company, 1940), p. 363. + +Since the prescribed limitations of women's role in any given period are +determined and affected by many social factors, the evolution of the +bathing gown to the swimming suit may not only be dependent upon the +changes in the American woman's way of life, but also may reflect +certain technological and sociological factors that are not readily +identifiable. The purpose of this paper is to describe the changes in +women's bathing dress and wherever pertinent to present the factors +affecting these styles.[2] + + [2] The author is indebted to Mrs. Anne W. Murray, formerly Curator + in Charge of American Costume, Smithsonian Institution, for the + interest she has shown throughout the research and writing of + this paper. The difficulties of this work would have been + greatly compounded without the benefit of her experience and + encouragement. + +Anyone who attempts to research the topic of swimming and related +subjects will be confronted with a history of varying reactions. Ralph +Thomas, in 1904, described his experiences through the years that he +spent compiling a book on swimming: + + When asked what I was doing, I have felt the greatest reluctance + to say a work on the literature of swimming. People who were + writing novels or some other thing of little practical utility + always looked at me with a smile of pity on my mentioning + swimming. Though I am bound to say that, when I gave them some + idea of the work, the pity changed somewhat but then they would + say "Why don't you give us a new edition of your Handbook of + Fictitious Names?" As if the knowledge of the real name of an + author was of any importance in comparison with the discussion + of a subject that more or less concerns every human being.[3] + + [3] RALPH THOMAS, _Swimming_ (London: Sampson Low, Marsten & Company + Limited, 1904), p. 15. + +Such reactions toward research about swimming probably discouraged many +serious efforts of writing about the subject. Its scant coverage and +even omission in histories of recreation or sports may be explained by +the fact that swimming cannot be categorized as simply physical +exercise, skill, recreation, or competitive sport. In trying to +determine the extent to which women swam in times past it is frustrating +to observe the historians' masculine bias in researching and reporting +social history. + +A study of women's bathing dress meets with similar problems, and while +a discussion of bathing dress can evoke considerable interest, its +nature is usually considered more superficial than serious. Descriptions +of, and even brief references to, bathing apparel for women are very +scarce before the third quarter of the 19th century. Before this time +only decorative costume items were considered worthy of description and +bathing costume was not in this category. It is only within +comparatively recent times that costume historians have conceded +sufficient importance to bathing dress to include meaningful +descriptions in their research. + +Participation in water activities was widespread in the ancient world +although the earliest origins of this activity are unknown. For example, +in Greece and, later, in Rome, swimming was valued as a pleasurable +exercise and superb physical training for warriors. The more sedentary +citizens turned to the baths which became the gathering point for +professional men, philosophers, and students. Thus bathing and swimming, +combined originally to fulfill the functions of cleansing and exercise +purely for physical well being, developed the secondary functions of +recreation and social intercourse. + +With the rise of the Christian church and its spreading anti-pagan +attitudes, many of the sumptuous baths were destroyed. Christian +asceticism also may have contributed to the decline of bathing for +cleansing. In addition there was a secular belief that outdoor bathing +helped to spread the fearful epidemics that periodically swept the +continent. Although there is isolated evidence that swimming was valued +as a physical skill,[4] swimming and bathing all but disappeared during +the Middle Ages. + + [4] JOSEPH STRUTT, _The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England_ + (London: Chatto and Windus, 1876), pp. 151-152. + +In 1531, long after the Middle Ages, Sir Thomas Elyot wrote of swimming +that + + There is an exercise, whyche is right profitable in extreme + danger of warres, but ... it hathe not ben of longe tyme muche + used, specially amoge noble men, perchaunce some reders whl + lyttell esteeme it.[5] + + [5] SIR THOMAS ELYOT, _The Boke Named the Governour_ (London, 1557), + vol. 1, pp. 54-55. + +This early English writer gave no instructions, but expounded on the +value of swimming as a skill that could be useful in time of war. + +It herewith becomes necessary to differentiate between bathing and +swimming with their attendant goals, for it was the goals of each +activity which influenced the associated customs and costume designs. +For this discussion we shall define bathing as the act of immersing all +or part of the body in water for cleansing, therapeutic, recreational, +or religious purposes, and swimming as the self-propulsion of the body +through water. When we refer to swimming it is necessary to distinguish +whether it was considered a useful skill, a therapeutic exercise, a +recreation, or a competitive sport. Thus it is important to note that +while bathing for all purposes and swimming as a physical exercise, +recreation, and sport died out during the Middle Ages, the latter +continued to be valued as a skill, particularly for warriors. This +function of swimming survived to form the link between the ancients and +the 17th century. + +According to Ralph Thomas, the first book on swimming was written by +Nicolas Winmann, a professor of languages at Ingolstadt in Bavaria, and +printed in 1528. The first book published in England on swimming was +written in Latin by Everard Digby and printed in 1587. As Thomas has +stated, Digby's book + + ... is entitled to a far more important place than the first of + the world, because, whereas Winmann had never (up to 1866) been + translated or copied or even quoted by any one, Digby has been + three times translated; twice into English and once into French + and through this latter became and probably still is the best + known treatise on the subject.[6] + + [6] THOMAS, op. cit. (footnote 3), p. 172. + +This French version was first published in 1696 with its purported +author being Monsieur Melchisedesh Thevenot. In his introduction +Thevenot indicates that he has made use of Digby's book in his own +treatise and that he knows of Winmann's publication. The English +translation of Thevenot's version became the standard instruction book +for English-speaking peoples. Typically, his reasons in favor of men +swimming were based on its being a useful skill (i.e., to keep from +being drowned in a shipwreck, to escape capture when being pursued by +enemies, and to attack an enemy posted on the opposite side of a +river).[7] + + [7] MELCHISEDESH THEVENOT, _The Art of Swimming_ (London: John Lever, + 1789), pp. 4-5. + +In the 18th and 19th centuries numerous other publications on swimming +appeared--too numerous to deal with in this paper. Nevertheless, the +refinement of the art of swimming was not related to the number of +instruction books. Few of these books actually offered new insights in +comparison with those that were outright plagiarisms or filled with +misinformation. In the meantime, bathing was reintroduced and as this +activity became more widespread swimming was regarded as more than a +useful skill, but only for men. + +There is little evidence of women bathing or swimming prior to the 17th +century; these activities seem to have been exclusively for men. +Nevertheless, Thomas refers to Winmann as writing, in 1538, that + + at Zurich in his day (thus implying that he was an elderly man + and that the custom had ceased) the young men and maidens bathed + together around the statue of "Saint Nicolai." Even in those + days his pupil asks "were not the girls ashamed of being naked?" + "No, as they wore bathing drawers--sometimes a marriage was + brought about." If any young man failed to bring up stones from + the bottom, when he dived, he had to suffer the penalty of + wearing drawers like the girls.[8] + + [8] THOMAS, op. cit. (footnote 3), p. 161. + +Thomas goes on to say that the only evidence he had found of women +swimming in England in early days was in a ballad entitled "The Swimming +Lady" and dating from about 1670. Despite these isolated references it +was not until the 19th century that women were encouraged to swim. + +After its decline in the Middle Ages, bathing achieved new popularity as +a medicinal treatment for both men and women. In England this revival +occurred in the 17th century when certain medical men held that bathing +in fresh water had healing properties. The resultant spas, which were +developed at freshwater springs to effect such "cures," expanded rapidly +as the number of their devotees increased. By the mid-18th century, +rival practitioners claimed even greater health-giving properties for +sea water both as a drink and for bathing. An economic benefit resulted +when, tiny, poverty-stricken fishing hamlets became famous through the +patronage of the wealthy in search of health as well as pleasure. + +When the early colonists left England in the first half of the 17th +century, the beliefs and practices they had acquired in their original +homes were brought to the new world. Thus, it is important to note that +during this period in Europe, swimming was a skill practiced by few, +primarily soldiers and sailors. It was not until the second half of the +century that bathing for therapeutic purposes was becoming popular in +the old world. + +The earliest reference to women's bathing costume has been quoted +previously in Winmann's amazing description of mixed bathing at Zurich. +He referred to women, wearing only drawers, bathing with men as a custom +no longer practiced when he wrote his book in 1538. + +One of the earliest illustrations of bathing costume I have located is +part of a painted fan leaf, about 1675, that was reproduced in volume 9 +of Maurice Leloir's _Histoire du Costume de l'Antiquite_ in 1914. In one +corner of this painting, which depicts a variety of activities going on +in the Seine and on the river banks at Paris, women are shown immersing +themselves in water within a covered wooden frame. They are wearing +loose, light-colored gowns and long headdresses. An English source of +the late 17th century described a very similar costume. + + The ladye goes into the bath with garments made of yellow + canvas, which is stiff and made large with great sleeves like a + parson's gown. The water fills it up so that it's borne off that + your shape is not seen, it does not cling close as other + lining.[9] + + [9] CELIA FIENNES, _Through England on Horseback_, as quoted in IRIS + BROOKE and JAMES LAVER, _English Costume from the Fourteenth + through the Nineteenth Century_ (New York: The Macmillan Company, + 1937), p. 252. + +In the course of my contacts with other costume historians I have +encountered the belief that women did not wear any bathing costume +before the mid-19th century. Supporting this theory I have seen a +reproduction of a print, about 1812, showing women bathing nude in the +ocean at Margate, England, but the evidence already presented indicates +clearly that costume was worn earlier. Also certain English secondary +sources refer to a nondescript chemise-type of bathing dress that was +worn during the first quarter of the 19th century. Because little study +has been given European bathing costume, it is not possible to +conjecture under what circumstances costume was or was not used. We do +know, however, that when bathing became popular in the new world bathing +gowns were worn by some women in the old. + + + + +Cultural Environment + + +As many European cultural traits were transmitted to the new world via +England, so was the introduction of water activities. Nevertheless it +required a number of years for such cultural refinements as bathing to +take root in the new environment. The early colonists brought with them +a limited knowledge of swimming, but they did not have the leisure to +cultivate this skill. In New England the Puritan religious and social +beliefs were as restrictive as the lack of leisure time. In this harsh +climate, self-indulgence in swimming and bathing did not fulfill the +requirements of being righteous and useful. Thus the growing popularity +of bathing among the wealthy in Europe during the 17th and early 18th +centuries had little initial impact in the new world. + +Although swimming as a skill predated the introduction of bathing to the +new world, I will first discuss bathing since the customs and facilities +established for it reveal the development of swimming in America, first +for men and then for women. + + +BATHING + +One of the earliest sources showing an appreciation of mineral waters +for bathing in the new world is a 1748 reference in George Washington's +diary to the "fam'd Warm Springs."[10] At that time only open ground +surrounded the springs which were located within a dense forest. + + [10] GEORGE WASHINGTON, _The Writings of George Washington_, John C. + Fitzpatrick, ed. (Washington: United States Congress, 1931), vol. + 1, p. 8. + +Another entry for July 31, 1769, records his departure with Mrs. +Washington for these springs (now known as Berkeley Springs, West +Virginia) where they stayed more than a month. They were accompanied by +her daughter, Patsy Custis, who was probably taken in hope of curing a +form of epilepsy with which she was afflicted. In the latter part of the +18th century hundreds of visitors annually flocked to these springs. +Although the accommodations were primitive, we early note that the +avowed therapeutic aims for visiting these waters were very quickly +combined with a growing social life on dry land. + + Rude log huts, board and canvas tents, and even covered wagons, + served as lodging rooms, while every party brought its own + substantial provisions of flour, meat and bacon, depending for + lighter articles of diet on the "Hill folk," or the success of + their own foragers. A large hollow scooped in the sand, + surrounded by a screen of pine brush, was the only + bathing-house; and this was used alternately by ladies and + gentlemen. The time set apart for the ladies was announced by a + blast on a long tin horn, at which signal all of the opposite + sex retired to a prescribed distance, ... Here day and night + passed in a round of eating and drinking, bathing, fiddling, + dancing, and reveling. Gaming was carried to a great excess and + horse-racing was a daily amusement.[11] + + [11] JOHN J. MOORMAN, _The Virginia Springs_ (Richmond: J. W. + Randolph, 1854), pp. 259-260. + +The more permanent bath houses found at the increasing number of springs +in the early 19th century were really only shanties built where the +water bubbled up. Nevertheless, as civilization moved in upon these +resorts, the current taboos and mores were soon imposed. These gave rise +to customs, facilities, and inventions peculiar to the pastime. The more +permanent facilities carefully separated men from women. Frequently the +women's bath was located a considerable distance from the men's and +surrounded by a high fence. Female attendants were at hand to wait upon +the ladies, and private rooms were prepared for their use both before +and after bathing. + +In the early 19th century the fame of Berkeley Springs was eclipsed +temporarily by the growing popularity of other springs, such as Saratoga +in the north and White Sulphur Springs in the south. The newest +facilities, however, and the completion of the Baltimore and Ohio +Railroad, restored Berkeley to its former prosperity in the early 1850s. + +The bath houses at Berkeley Springs in the 1850s are an example of the +facilities that were considered convenient, extensive, and elegant +during this period. The gentlemen's bath house contained fourteen +dressing rooms and ten large bathing rooms. In addition to the plunge +baths, which were twelve feet long, five feet wide, and four and a half +feet deep, the men had a swimming bath that was sixty feet long, twenty +feet wide, and five feet deep. The ladies' and men's bath houses were +located on opposite sides of the grove. As if this were not reassuring +enough, we are told that the building for the weaker sex was surrounded +by several acres of trees. Thus protected, feminine bathers could choose +either one of the nine private baths or the plunge bath, which was +thirty feet long by sixteen feet wide and four and a half feet deep, as +well as use a shower or artificial warm baths.[12] + + [12] Ibid., p. 264. + +The differences between the two bath houses show that women were not as +active in the water as the men. Judging from the kind of facilities that +were provided at Berkeley Springs, the ladies did less "plunging" than +the men and no swimming. + +Although accepted in England, bathing in =salt= water did not become +popular in the new world until some time after bathing at springs was +established. + +In 1794 a Mr. Bailey announced that he planned to institute "bathing +machines and several species of entertainment" at his resort on Long +Island.[13] "A machine of peculiar construction for bathing in the open +sea" was advertised a few years later by a hotel proprietor at Nahant, +Massachusetts.[14] There is some question as to what the term "bathing +machine" describes. Existing records show that W. Merritt of New York +City received a patent dated February 1, 1814, for a "bathing machine." +Unfortunately neither a description nor a drawing can be found today. +European patents from the first half of the 19th century reveal that a +bathing machine could be a contraption in which an individual bathed in +privacy. This is what the above quotations seem to be describing. In +general usage, however, "bathing machine" could also have been a device +in which an individual removed his clothing to prepare for bathing; this +type will be described later. + + [13] HENRY WANSAY, _An Excursion to the United States_ (Salisbury: J. + Easton, 1798), p. 211, as quoted in DULLES, _America Learns to + Play_, p. 152. + + [14] FRED ALLAN WILSON, _Some Annals of Nahant_ (Boston: Old Corner + Book Store, 1928), p. 77, as quoted in DULLES, _America Learns to + Play_, p. 152. + +By the early 19th century floating baths were established in every city +of any importance including Boston, Salem, Hartford, New York, +Philadelphia, Washington, Richmond, Charleston, and Savannah. One bath +located at the foot of Jay Street in New York City was described as +follows: + + The building is an octagon of seventy feet in diameter, with a + plank floor supported by logs so as to sink the center bath four + feet below the surface of the water, but in the private baths + the water may be reduced to three or even two feet so as to be + perfectly safe for children. It is placed in the current so + always to be supplied with ocean and pure water and rises and + falls with the tide.[15] + + [15] _New York Evening Post_ (June 4, 1813). + +As was true at the springs, men and women were segregated; but in the +floating baths they were only separated by being in different +compartments rather than in different bath houses. + +Although there were a number of these baths there were not enough to +cover all of the inviting river banks and sea shores. There are many +instances of men enjoying the water of undeveloped shores and there is +some evidence of women venturing into the bays and rivers (fig. 2). + +[Illustration: Figure 2.--"BATHING PARTY, 1810," painting by William P. +Chappel. + +(_Courtesy of Museum of the City of New York._)] + +Nevertheless, few women ventured into the open ocean during the early +19th century. They were generally afraid to brave the force of the ocean +waves with only a female companion, since prevailing attitudes regarding +the proper behavior of a lady prevented them from being accompanied by a +man. When a few ignored this dictate, their bold actions gave rise to +"ill-founded stories of want of delicacy on the part of the +females."[16] An unbiased traveler, who gave an account of this mixed +bathing in 1833, stated that parties always went into the water +completely dressed and for that reason he could see no great violation +of modesty. Mixed bathing at the seashore (fig. 3) was gaining +acceptance, however, when it was reported only thirteen years later that +"... ladies and gentlemen bathe in company, as is the fashion all along +the Atlantic Coast...."[17] + + [16] JAMES STUART, _Three Years in North America_ (Edinburgh: Robert + Cadwell, 1833), vol. 1, p. 441. + + [17] J. W. and N. ORR, _Orr's Book of Swimming_ (New York: Burns and + Baner, 1846) as quoted in THOMAS, op. cit. (footnote 3), p. 270. + +In place of the dressing rooms available in the floating baths, special +facilities were frequently provided. The bathing machine--in this case a +device in which one changed clothes--was used where there was a gentle +slope down to the water. This species of bathing machine was a small +wooden cabin set on very high wheels with steps leading down from a door +in the front. The bather entered and, while he was changing, the machine +was pulled into the sea by a horse. When water was well above the axles +the horse was uncoupled and taken ashore. The bather was then free to +enter the sea by descending the steps pointed away from the shore (fig. +4). Machines of the 18th and early 19th century were frequently equipped +with an awning which shielded the bather from public view as she or he +descended the steps to enter the water. These awnings were left off the +bathing machines during the last half of the 19th century. Such machines +were used to a great extent in Europe during the 18th and 19th +centuries. In the United States, however, they were used only to a +limited extent during the first half of the 19th century. By 1870 they +had practically disappeared--being replaced by the stationary, +sentry-box type of individual structure and the large communal bath +house. + +"Sentry-boxes" were used before the 1870s at beaches where the terrain +did not encourage the use of the bathing machines. At Long Branch, New +Jersey, and at one of the beaches at Newport, Rhode Island, lines of +these stationary structures were available to the bather for changing, +one half designated for women and the other half for men. Hours varied +but it was the practice to run up colored flags to signal bathing times +for the ladies and then the gentlemen. A male correspondent wrote from +Newport in 1857: + + If you are social and wish to bathe promiscuously, you put on a + dress and go in with the ladies, if you want to cultivate the + "fine and froggy art of swimming," unencumbered by attire, you + wait until the twelve o'clock red-flag is run up--when the + ladies retire.[18] + + [18] "Life at Watering-Places--Our Newport Correspondent," _Frank + Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper_ (August 29, 1857), vol. 4, no. + 91, p. 197. + +From its early beginnings, in the late 18th and early 19th century, the +summer excursion to the resorts and spas grew in popularity. In 1848, a +writer of a Philadelphia fashion report explained that + + Very few ladies of fashion are now in town, most of them being + birds of passage during the last of July and all of August. Most + Americans seem to have adopted the fashion of visiting + watering-places through the summer.[19] + + [19] "Chit-Chat upon Philadelphia Fashions for August," _Godey's + Lady's Book_ (August 1848), vol. 37, p. 119. + +As the summer excursion became a social event, the recreational +possibilities of bathing overshadowed its earlier therapeutic function. +Bathing became part of an increasingly elaborate schedule of activities +where each event--bathing, dining, concerts, balls, promenades, carriage +rides--had its appointed time, place, and proper costume. + +[Illustration: Figure 3.--"SCENE AT CAPE MAY," _Godey's Lady's Book_, +August 1849. (_Courtesy of The New York Public Library._)] + +In addition to stiff ocean breezes, seaside resorts had an extra appeal +that beguiled visitors away from the spas--namely mixed bathing. For +during the bathing hour at the seashore all the stiffness and etiquette +of select society was abandoned to pleasure. + + Again and again I try it. Deliriusm! I forget even Miss ----, + and dive headforemost into the billows. I rush to meet them. I + jump on their backs. I ride on their combs, or I let them roll + over me.... I am in the thickest of the bathers, and amid the + roar of waves, am driven wild with excitement by the shouts of + laughter; burst of noisy merriment, and little jolly female + shrieks of fun. All are wild with excitement, ducking, diving, + splashing, floating, rollicking.[20] + + [20] "My First Day at Cape May," _Peterson's Magazine_ (August 1856), + vol. 30, no. 2, p. 91. + +Thus bathing was transformed from a medicinal treatment to a pleasurable +pursuit. + +Excursionists had to be hardy individuals, firm in their resolve to +complete their trip. Although many railroad lines had been completed +by the 1850s, transportation problems were by no means solved. For +example, a New York tourist who planned to enjoy a summer at Lake George +had to travel by boat from New York City to Albany and Troy, then by +railroad to Morean Corner, and, finally, by stage to the lake. After +listing the difficulties endured by excursionists, a particularly +embittered correspondent commented in 1856, "... we envy these happy +people in nothing but the power to be idle."[21] + + [21] _Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper_ (July 26, 1856), vol. 2, + no. 33, p. 102. + +[Illustration: Figure 4.--"THE BATHE AT NEWPORT," by Winslow Homer, +_Harper's Weekly Newspaper_, September 1858. (Smithsonian photo 59665.)] + +By the 1870s, travel facilities were rapidly being improved and many new +summer resorts were established which appealed to a larger segment of +the population. + + Comparatively few can stay long at one time at the springs or + seaside resorts, and hence the peculiar value of arrangements + like those for enabling multitudes to take frequent short + pleasant excursions down the New York Bay and along the Atlantic + coast, as well as up the Hudson, and through Long Island + Sound.[22] + + [22] "Summer Recreation," _Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper_ (June + 18, 1870), vol. 30, no. 768, p. 210. + +Beaches that catered to a large cross-section of the population provided +a wide variety of informal activities that replaced the established +functions found at the more select bathing resorts. For example, the +illustration of Coney Island in 1878 (fig. 5) shows a puppet show; pony +rides for children; a hurdy gurdy; vendors of walking sticks, +sunglasses, and food; and guide ropes in the water for timid bathers. + +[Illustration: Figure 5.--"SCENES AND INCIDENTS ON CONEY ISLAND," +_Harper's Weekly Newspaper_, August 1878. + +(Smithsonian photo 59666.)] + +In the 1890s foreign visitors were impressed by American concern with +finding opportunities to play; early in the century they had remarked on +the apparent lack of interest in amusements. The term, "summer resorts," +no longer referred to a relatively small number of fashionable watering +places. The _New York Tribune_ was running eight columns of summer hotel +advertisements aimed directly at the middle class. The popular _Summer +Tourist and Excursion Guide_ listed moderate-priced hotels and railroad +excursions; it was a far departure from the fashionable tour of the +1840s. + +Thus, as economic and technological factors changed, bathing was +transformed from a medicinal treatment for the leisure class to a +recreation enjoyed by a large portion of the population. + + +SWIMMING + +As has been stated earlier, swimming was being practiced by men in +Europe when the early colonists were leaving their old homes. +Nevertheless, the task of establishing new homes left them little time +to practice the "art of swimming" or to teach it to fellow colonists. + +Benjamin Franklin is no doubt the most famous early proponent of +swimming in the colonies. In his autobiography written in the form of a +letter to his son in 1771, Franklin revealed his early interest in +swimming. + + I had from a child been delighted with this exercise, had + studied and practiced Thevenot's motions and position, and added + some of my own, aiming at the graceful and easy, as well as the + useful.[23] + + [23] JARED SPARKS, _The Works of Benjamin Franklin_ (Boston: Tappan + and Whittemore, 1844), vol. I, pp. 63-64. + +Benjamin Franklin used every opportunity to encourage his friends to +learn to swim, + + as I wish all men were taught to do in their youth; they would, + on many occurrences, be the safer for having that skill, and on + many more the happier, as freer from painful apprehensions of + danger, to say nothing of the enjoyment in so delightful and + wholesome an exercise.[24] + + [24] J. FROST, _The Art of Swimming_ (New York: P. W. Gallaudet, + 1818), p. 57. + +Not only was Franklin in favor of being able to swim but when requested +he advised friends on methods for how to teach oneself. His +instructions, in his letter of September 28, 1776 to Mr. Oliver Neale, +were published a number of times even as late as the 1830s. + +America's first swimming school was established at Boston in 1827 by +Francis Liefer. Two expert swimmers, John Quincy Adams and John James +Audubon, the ornithologist, visited the school and each expressed +delight at having found such an establishment. + +Numerous books instructing men how to swim were brought into the United +States in the early 19th century and some were republished here, but the +first original work (i.e., not a plagiarism) by an American was not +published until 1846. In this book the author, James Arlington Bennet, +M.D., LL.D., based his instructions upon his own personal observations +as an experienced swimmer. Dr. Bennet's publication requires special +note not only due to the basic value of the information but because of +the extraordinary title (i.e., _The Art of Swimming Exemplified by +Diagrams from Which Both Sexes May Learn to Swim and Float on the Water; +and Rules for All Kinds of Bathing in the Preservation of Health and +Cure of Disease, with the Management of Diet from Infancy to Old Age, +and a Valuable Remedy Against Sea-sickness_). Thanks to this explicit +title we learn that Dr. Bennet was in favor of women learning to swim. +This energetic aquatic activity had long been considered a masculine +skill and, despite such a significant publication, this attitude +continued until much later in the century. + +We have already noted in a previous discussion that the Berkeley Springs +bath houses of the 1850s provided a swimming bath for men but no similar +facilities for women. Also at certain seaside resorts of the same +period, a special time was set for men to practice the art of swimming +without clothing, but women had no similar opportunity. When the ladies +entered the water they were clothed from head to toe because men were +also present. The description of women's bathing costume, which will +appear in a later section, clearly shows that women could do little more +than try to maintain their footing. Undoubtedly some "brazen" women did +find the opportunity to swim, but the general attitude was that women +should only immerse themselves in water. + +By the 1860s there was a widespread health movement which gave +additional momentum to the belief that physical exercise was good for +one's well-being. As a result, women were being encouraged to emerge +from their state of physical inactivity imposed by social custom. +Swimming had already gained recognition as a healthful exercise for men, +but with this fresh approach it was even being suggested that women +should swim. A column that appeared in 1866, entitled "Physical Exercise +for Females," asserted that + + Bathing, as it is practiced at our coast resorts, is, no doubt, + a delightful recreation; but if to it swimming could be added, + the delight would be increased, and the possible use and + advantage much extended.[25] + + [25] _Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper_ (August 25, 1866), vol. + 22, no. 569, p. 355. + +In answer to the possible objection that the facilities for teaching +were not always available, the writer maintained that in addition to the +seashore there were rivers, lakes, and ponds as well as the swimming +baths found in most large cities. He further asserted that if the demand +were great enough, certain days could be appropriated exclusively to +women as was done in some of the London baths. + +The type of baths referred to in this case were not built simply to +supply a health-giving treatment or for recreation as described earlier. +As part of the health movement mentioned above, there was a growing +concern in regards to personal cleansing; it was realized that merely +splashing water on the face in the morning was not sufficient for good +personal hygiene. While facilities for washing the whole body were being +installed in wealthy homes, there was also a growing concern for the +masses of people who could not afford such extravagance. Thus +philanthropic individuals encouraged the building of public swimming +baths in densely populated, low income areas. It was hoped that, +although the patrons would be covered by bathing costume and would be +seeking refreshment and recreation, this unaccustomed contact with water +would improve their personal hygiene. + +In 1870 a reporter for _Leslie's_, who was describing two elegant large +bathhouses (the type described above) in New York City, stated that +Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays were set apart for ladies and Tuesdays, +Thursdays, and Saturdays for gentlemen. These baths became quite popular +in the large cities, particularly among people who could not afford the +time or money to make trips even to the near seaside resorts. By the +1880s they were so popular that bathing time was scheduled to allow many +sets of bathers to enjoy the water. Thus a number of women who had +probably never been completely covered with water before had the +opportunity to learn to swim. + +While women were being encouraged to practice swimming as a healthful +exercise, this activity was being recognized as a recreation and sport +for men. The increasing affluence during the last three decades of the +19th century, which made possible the widespread popularity of summer +excursions, encouraged swimming as an individual pastime as well as a +growing spectator sport. This was true not only for swimming but for +nearly every sport we enjoy today. In 1871 a reporter wrote: + + It is not underrating the interest attached to yachting or + rowing matches, to say that swimming clubs and swimming matches + can be made to create wider and more useful emulation among "the + Million" who can never participate in or benefit by those + notable trials of skill and muscle.[26] + + [26] Ibid. (July 29, 1871), vol. 32, no. 826, p. 322. + +By the 1890s this growing interest in spectator and individual sports +evidenced several interesting results. Separate sporting pages were +established in the formats of many newspapers. In addition to being a +summer pastime, "the art of swimming" became an intercollegiate and +Olympic sport, and was included on the roster of events for the 1896 +revival of the Olympic Games held in Athens. Innovations in facilities +and techniques helped to alter the character of swimming. The most +notable of these were the development of the indoor pool and the +introductions of the crawl stroke into the United States. + +It was in this time period that swimming for women was becoming socially +acceptable. In 1888, Goucher College, a prominent girls' school, built +its own indoor pool and the following year swimming was listed in its +catalog for the first time. Writers, in turn, no longer felt it +necessary to convince readers that women should be more active in the +water, but concentrated instead on what a woman should know when she +swims. This changing attitude gained world-wide recognition in 1912 at +Stockholm when the 100-meter swimming event for women was included in +the schedule. + +The period of prosperity following World War I brought a marked increase +in the appreciation of recreation, resulting in an increase of swimming +pools and available beaches. Indoor pools, which made swimming a +year-round activity, were becoming even more numerous than beaches. +Swimming was now established as a sport and a recreation for both men +and women. According to a 1924 magazine article in the _Delineator_, +seldom was a swimming meet held anywhere in the country without events +for women. At Palm Beach, however, one of the few remaining citadels of +"high society," an axiom of fashion dictated that a lady or gentleman +not go into the water before 11:45 in the morning; should one do so, one +ran the risk of being taken for a maid or valet. The masses, however, +swam for pleasure without regard to the inhibitions of high fashion. + +This period was also marked by the advent of swimming personalities of +both sexes. Johnny Weissmuller became a popular hero for his +accomplishments in competitive swimming from 1921 to 1929. Even before +the war Annette Kellerman, star of vaudeville and movies, had become +famous for her fancy diving as well as her celebrated figure, which she +daringly exhibited in a form-fitting, one-piece suit. In addition to +writing an autobiography, she authored articles and a swimming +instruction book for women. As an example of what exercise, including +swimming, could do for women, Annette Kellerman also lent her name to a +course of physical culture for less "well-developed" ladies. Another +product of this new age of recreation was Gertrude Ederle, who learned +to swim at the Woman's Swimming Association of New York. She rose to +sudden fame in 1926 as the first woman to swim the English Channel. + +As previously stated, swimming was practiced through the Middle Ages as +a useful skill for men. Gradually this activity became regarded as also +a healthful exercise and then as a recreation. Finally by the late 19th +century swimming also had achieved the status of a competitive +sport--but for men only. It was not until the 1920s that social +attitudes permitted women the same full use of the water as men. + +The restrictive attitudes defining women's proper behavior in the water +prior to the 1920s were one element of the mores defining women's +participation in society. Thus as more liberal attitudes gained +acceptance and modified the original concept of the "weaker sex," women +gradually achieved social acceptance of their full participation in +aquatic activities. + + + + +Bathing Costume + + +Bathing became popular as a medicinal treatment for both men and women +of the new world in the last half of the 18th century. It was the only +aquatic activity, however, that was considered proper for women until +over a hundred years later. + +Like so many other customs, changes in bathing costume styles were +initially introduced by way of England. They were adapted or rejected +according to the special conditions of this continent. To give a clearer +picture of the costume worn in the colonies and in the United States, +descriptions of the English dress will be included where pertinent. I +have not, however, found any evidence showing that bathing nude was a +practice for women in this country. + + +THE EARLY BATHING GOWN + +It is disappointing but not surprising to discover the lack of +descriptions pertaining to early bathing costume. This simple gown was +utilitarian, not decorative. Thus it deserved little attention in the +eyes of the contemporary bather. + +No doubt it is due to the importance of the original owner that the +following example has survived. In the collection of family memorabilia +at Mount Vernon, there is a chemise-type bathing gown that is said to +have been worn by Martha Washington (fig. 6). According to a note +attached to the gown signed by Eliza Parke Custis, and addressed to +"Rosebud," a pet name for her daughter, Martha Washington probably wore +this bathing gown at Berkeley Springs as she accompanied her daughter, +Patsy, in her bath. + +This blue and white checked linen gown has several construction details +similar to the chemise, a woman's undergarment, of the period. The +sleeves were gathered near the shoulder and were set in with a gusset at +the armpit. The skirt of the gown was made wider at the bottom by the +usual method of adding four long triangular pieces--one to each side of +both the front and back. The sleeves, however, are not as full as those +one would expect to find on a chemise of the period. Also a chemise +would probably have had a much wider neckline gathered by a draw-string +threaded through a band at the neck edge. Instead, this bathing gown has +a moderately low neckline made wider by a slit down the front which is +closed by two linen tapes sewn to either edge of the front. Although +less fabric was used for the bathing gown than was normally required to +make a chemise, it was probably not because of functional considerations +as one might like to think, but because of the scarcity of fabric. Close +examination reveals that the triangular sections of fabric used to add +fullness to the skirt consist of several pieces. In fact the two +sections used in the back are made from a different fabric, although it +is still a blue and white checked linen. Frugal use of scraps in linings +and hidden sections of decorative costume was common practice in the +18th century. The piecing of the bathing gown is further evidence of the +fact that it was a garment that had no ornamental purpose. + +[Illustration: Figure 6.--LINEN BATHING GOWN said to have been worn by +Martha Washington. (_Courtesy of The Mount Vernon Ladies' +Association._)] + +Of particular interest are the lead disks which are wrapped in linen and +attached near the hem next to the side seams by means of patches. No +doubt these weights were used to keep the gown in place when the bather +entered the water. + +The following account of bathing in Dover, England, in 1782 suggests how +the bathing gown might have been used at Berkeley Springs: + + The Ladies in a morning when they intend to bathe, put on a long + flannel gown under their other clothes, walk down to the beach, + undress themselves to the flannel, then they walk in as deep as + they please, and lay hold of the guides' hands, three or four + together sometimes. + + Then they dip over head twenty times perhaps; then they come + onto the shore where there are women that attend with towels, + cloaks, chairs, etc. The flannel is stripp'd off, wip'd dry, + etc. Women hold cloaks round them. They dress themselves and go + home.[27] + + [27] _Diary of John Crosier_, 1782, as quoted in C. WILLETT and + PHILLIS CUNNINGTON, _Handbook of English Costume in the + Eighteenth Century_ (London: Faber and Faber, 1957), p. 404. + +The earliest illustration showing costume worn in the United States for +fresh water bathing is dated 1810 (see fig. 2). Unfortunately the +painting reveals only that the bathing gowns were long and dark colored +in comparison with the white dresses of the period. + +An 1848 article which described, in detail, the fashionable dress called +for by each activity at summer resorts, concludes with the following +tantalizing paragraph: + + We have no space for an extended description of suitable + bathing-dresses. They may be procured at any of our town + establishments for the purpose. Much depends upon individual + taste in their arrangement, for uncouth as they often of + necessity are, they can be improved by a little tact.[28] + + [28] Loc. cit. (footnote 19). + +This is the only reference to American bathing costume of the second +quarter of the 19th century that the author has found at this time. +Nevertheless, an English source describes what must have been a +transitional style between the chemise-type bathing gown and the more +fitted costume of the 1850s. + +The _Workwoman's Guide_, published in London, 1840, included +instructions for making both a bathing gown and a bathing cap. Health +and modesty were the main considerations that influenced the choice of +color and type of material. + + Bathing gowns are made of blue or white flannel, stuff, + calimanco, or blue linen. As it is especially desirable that the + water should have free access to the person, and yet that the + dress should not cling to, or weigh down the bather, stuff or + calimanco are preferred to most other materials; the dark + coloured gowns are the best for several reasons, but chiefly + because they do not show the figure, and make the bather less + conspicuous than she would be in a white dress.[29] + + [29] A LADY, _The Workwoman's Guide_ (London: Simpkin, Marshall, and + Co., 1840), p. 61. + +The following details reveal that, in general, this 1840 bathing gown +starts as an unshaped garment similar to the gown attributed to Martha +Washington [brackets are mine]. + + As the width of the materials, of which a bathing gown is made, + varies, it is impossible to say of how many breadths it should + consist. The width at the bottom, when the gown is doubled, + should be about 15 nails [1 nail = 21/4 in.]: fold it like a + pinafore, slope 31/2 nails for the shoulders, cut or open slits of + 31/2 nails long for the armholes, set in plain sleeves 41/2 nails + long, 31/2 nails wide, and make a slit in front 5 nails long.[30] + + [30] Loc. cit. (footnote 29). + +The instructions for finishing this gown, however, show that the sleeves +were worn close around the wrists and that the fullness of the skirt was +secured at the waist by a belt. + + In making up, delicacy is the great object to be attended to. + Hem the gown at the bottom, gather it into a band at the top, + and run in strings; hem the opening and the bottom of the + sleeves and put in strings. A broad band should be sewed in + about half a yard from the top, to button round the waist.[31] + + [31] Loc. cit. (footnote 29). + +By the addition of the above details this type of bathing gown more +closely approximates the style of the long-skirted blouse of the 1850s +to be described later. + +In regard to the bathing cap we are told that, + + These are made of oil-silk, and are worn, when bathing, by + ladies who have long hair.... It is advisable, however, for + those who have not long hair, to bathe in plain linen caps, so + as to admit the water without the sand or grit, and thus the + bather, unless prohibited on account of health, enjoys all the + benefit of the shock without injuring the hair.[32] + + [32] Ibid., p. 68. + +The "Scene at Cape May" (fig. 3) shows women wearing long-skirted, +long-sleeved, belted gowns as well as head coverings similar to the type +described in _The Workwoman's Guide_. + +Thus during the period when bathing became popular as a medicinal +treatment, women wore loose, open gowns perhaps patterned after a common +undergarment, the chemise. Although this chemise-type bathing costume +must have been very comfortable when dry, its fullness was restrictive +when wet. The bather could only immerse herself in water which was all +that was necessary for the treatment. As the recreational possibilities +of bathing began to overshadow its health-giving properties, women's +bathing dresses also became more fitted, following the general +silhouette of women's fashions. + +[Illustration: SCENE AT CONEY ISLAND--SEA BATHING ILLUSTRATED. + +Figure 7.--SEA BATHING AT CONEY ISLAND, from _Frank Leslie's Illustrated +Newspaper_, September 1856. + +(Smithsonian photo 58437.)] + + +BIFURCATED BATHING DRESS + +During the first half of the 19th century in England and the United +States, a more tolerant attitude toward feminine exercise led women to +abandon the fiction that they were not bipedal while bathing. This +acknowledgment, however, was not fostered solely by the need for a more +functional bathing dress. It was first evidenced by a few daring +European women who wore lace-edged pantaloons trimmed with several rows +of tucking under their daytime dresses. The shorter, untrimmed, +knee-length drawers which quickly replaced the pantaloons, became an +unseen but essential item in the fashionable English lady's toilette of +the 1840s. These drawers, or a plainer version of the longer pantaloons, +were adapted not only to the female riding habit but the bathing dress +as well. An 1828 English source reported that "Many ladies when riding +wear silk drawers similar to what is worn when bathing."[33] With the +increased interest in physical exercise for women, ankle-length, open +pantaloons also were being worn in the 1840s with a long overdress as an +early form of gymnasium suit. This evidence of the early use of drawers +suggests that, like English ladies, women in the United States were +probably wearing a type of drawers beneath their nondescript bathing +gowns during the second quarter of the 19th century. There is some +slight support of this theory in the following stanza of a poem that +appeared in 1845: + + But go to the beach ere the morning be ended + And look at the bathers--oh what an array + The ladies in trowsers, the _gemmen_ in _blowses_ + E'en red flannel shirts are the "go" at Cape May.[34] + + [33] As quoted in C. WILLETT and PHILLIS CUNNINGTON, _The History of + Underclothes_ (London: Faber and Faber, 1951), p. 130. + + [34] "Cape May," _Godey's Lady's Book_ (December 1845), vol. 31, p. + 268. + +The rather crude but delightful sketch of seabathing at Coney Island in +1856 (fig. 7) shows the ladies wearing very full, ankle-length, trousers +with a sack top extending loosely only a few inches below the waist. +This type of bathing costume, which was primarily a bifurcated garment +instead of a skirted one, became the prevailing fashion as reported in +English women's magazines of the 1860s. + +In contrast to the originally European skirtless costume, the +Philadelphia publication, _Peterson's Magazine_, stated that bathing +dress should consist of a pair of drawers and a long-skirted dress. The +recommended drawers were full and confined at the ankle by a band that +was finished with a ruffle. These drawers were attached to a "body" and +fastened so that, even if the skirt washed up, the individual could not +possibly be exposed. The dress was made by pleating or gathering the +desired length of material onto a deep yoke with a separate belt +securing the fullness at the waist. The bottom of the hem was about +three inches above the ankle and was considered rather short. Loose +shirt sleeves were drawn around the wrist by a band which was finished +with a deep ruffle as a protection against the sun. According to this +article many women wore a small talma or cape which hid the figure to +some extent. It was recommended that the drawers, dress, and talma be +made of the same woolen material. + + Bathing-dresses, although generally very unbecoming can be made + to look very prettily with a little taste. If the dress is of a + plain color, such as grey, blue or brown, a trimming around the + talma, collar, yoke, ruffles etc ..., of crimson, green or + scarlet, is a great addition.[35] + + [35] "Fashions for August, Bathing Dresses," _Peterson's Magazine_ + (August 1856), vol. 30, p. 145. + +To complete a bathing toilette the following items were considered +necessary: a pair of large lisle thread gloves, an oil cap to protect +the hair from the water, a straw hat to shield the face from the sun, +and gum overshoes for tender feet. + +[Illustration: Figure 8.--BATHING DRESS, c. 1855. (_Courtesy of +Philadelphia Museum of Art._ Photograph by A. J. Wyatt, staff +photographer.)] + +The red, tan, and blue-green checked bathing dress shown in figure 8 is +jauntily trimmed with crimson braid edging the collar, belt, and wrist +and ankle bands. This costume is a variation of the style described +previously. The drawers, unlike those described in _Peterson's +Magazine_, are sewn to a linen band with linen suspenders attached. The +unfitted, unshaped skirt (8 ft. 8 in. in circumference) is pulled in at +the waist by a belt attached to the center back. A similar technique for +forming a waistline is described in _The Workwoman's Guide_ of 1840. + +Women's magazines in the United States from the third quarter of the +19th century show illustrations of bathing costume, but in many +instances these publications used European fashion plates. _Harper's +Bazar_, (spelled thus until 1929) particularly in its early years, used +fashion plates and pattern supplements from its German predecessor _Der +Bazar_. Thus, in one issue one can find a fashion plate showing the +predominantly bifurcated European bathing suit and, in a column on New +York fashions, a separate description of long-skirted bathing dresses +with trousers. During the same period _Peterson's Magazine_ had +illustrations previously used in the London publication, _Queen's +Magazine_. + +American women seem to have accepted the majority of styles shown in +European fashion plates, except for the skirtless bathing suits. The +writer of an 1868 column on New York fashions sought to convince his +readers to try the more daring European style although he grudgingly +admitted that the "Bathing suits made with trousers and blouse waist +without skirt are objected to by many ladies as masculine and +fast...."[36] This style was in fact, very similar to the costume worn +by men when they bathed with the ladies. A year later, the writer of the +same fashion column had given up the campaign to dress all women in the +skirtless suits and admitted that these imports "... are worn by expert +swimmers, who do not wish to be encumbered with bulky clothing."[37] +Such practical bathing dress was thus limited to a very small number of +progressive women. + + [36] "New York Fashions," _Harper's Bazar_ (August 8, 1868), vol. 1, + no. 41, p. 643. + + [37] Ibid. (July 10, 1869), vol. 2, no. 28, p. 435. + +The majority, consisting of those who were strictly bathers, wore the +ankle-length drawers beneath a long dress as described or illustrated in +the majority of sources that originated in the United States. Why was +the European bathing suit not fully adopted by American women? +Differences between the bathing customs of the two continents +undoubtedly encouraged the development of different dress. While men and +women in the United States bathed together freely at the seashore during +the latter half of the 19th century, this practice was not widely +accepted in England until the early 1900s. In the presence of men, +American women probably felt compelled to retain their more concealing +dress and drawers. + +In England swimming seems to have been more popular among women than it +was in the United States. While encouraging its readers to swim, during +the late 1860s, _Queen's Magazine_ used forceful language of a kind that +was not found in American publications until the late 19th century. If +swimming was more acceptable as a feminine exercise in England it is +understandable why English women were more receptive to a functional, +skirtless bathing suit--especially since it was worn only in the +presence of other women. + +In 1858, Winslow Homer, who was later to become a well-known American +painter, was welcomed into the society at Newport until it became +apparent that he wanted to sketch the bathers for a weekly newspaper +(see fig. 4). So great were the ensuing objections that he was permitted +to complete his sketches "... provided he depicted the bathers only in +the water and only above the waistline and without divulging the +identity of the bathers."[38] + + [38] B. BROOKE, "Bathing-dress with Hat and Gloves," _Hobbies_ (August + 1958), vol. 63, p. 90. + +As can be seen in figure 4, these sketches serve more as a testament of +Homer's fancy than as an accurate historical statement on style. The two +feminine legs exposed in the water from just below the knee to the toe +and the feminine head coverings appear to be anachronisms. According to +several other illustrations of the period, these women were undoubtedly +wearing long drawers. The young artist at 22, however, has been +described as having an eye for feminine beauty and a sense of fashion. +He seems to have exploited to the full the decorative possibilities of +hoop skirts blown by the breeze or agitated by some pretty accident to +discreetly reveal a trim ankle. A drama of breeze versus long skirt +appears with the small feminine figure in the left background of this +print. The force of the waves and the motion of the frolicking bathers +gave the artist opportunity to show two more pretty accidents. The only +head covering he showed for feminine bathers was a ruffled cap that +framed the face. Other sources show Newport bathers wearing the less +attractive wide-brimmed straw hat (fig. 9). The straw headgear worn over +these caps seems more likely since Newport's fashionable belles would +surely have sacrificed appearances and worn a straw hat to avoid an +unfashionable sunburn and tan. + +[Illustration: Figure 9.--BATHING HAT of natural color and purple straw, +c. 1880. (Smithsonian photo P-65409.)] + +Nevertheless, Homer's sketch reflects characteristics seen in certain +surviving examples from the 1860s--namely that the top was becoming more +fitted, being attached completely to a belt with the fuller skirt +pleated or gathered to the bottom edge of the belt. In the Design +Laboratory Collection of the Brooklyn Museum there is an 1860 black +poplin specimen that may be a bathing dress. This example is trimmed at +the shoulder seam with epaulets, an example of the extent to which +fashion was finally playing a part in bathing costume.[39] + + [39] Photograph and pattern appears in Blanch Payne, _History of + Costume_ (New York: Harper & Row, 1965), pp. 518, 583-584. + +The dresses described above appear peculiar not only to 20th century +eyes, but they also seem to have amused mid-19th century correspondents. +One writer in 1857 declared that, + + We don't think a man could identify his own wife when she comes + out of the bathing-house. A plump figure enters, surrounded with + a multitude of rustly flounces and scarcely able to squeeze an + enormous hoop through the door. She is absent a few minutes, and + presto change! out comes a tall lank apparition, wrapped in the + scanty folds of something that looks more like a superannuated + night-gown than anything else, and a battered straw-chapeau + knocked down over the eyes, and stalks down towards the beach + with the air and gait of a Tartar chieftain![40] [fig. 10.] + + [40] "An Excursion to Long Branch," _Frank Leslie's Illustrated + Newspaper_ (August 22, 1857), vol. 4, no. 90, p. 182. + +Another writer felt that he + + ... must say--even in the columns of _Frank Leslie's + Illustrated_--that they don't look very picturesque or pretty + when _a la Naiade_.... Rather limp, sacks tied in the middle, + eel-bottles, hydropathic coalheavers and "longshoremen," and + preternaturally dilapidated Bloomers, would appear to be the + ideals aimed at.[41] [fig. 11.] + + [41] Loc. cit. (footnote 18). + +This use of the term "Bloomers," referring to long full drawers or +trousers, is a reminder of how similar the 1855 bathing gown with +drawers (see fig. 8) was to the reform dress introduced in 1848 and worn +by Amelia Bloomer, the feminist, in 1852. + +Despite the evident use of a new waistline treatment, the most popular +bathing costume of the 1870s, according to _Harper's Bazar_, continued +to feature the yoke blouse that reached at least to the knee. This +combination of blouse and skirt was held in position at the waist by a +belt. The high neck was finished with a sailor collar or a standing +pleated frill, while the long sleeves and full Turkish trousers, +buttoned on the side of the ankle, concealed the limbs. In 1873 a column +on New York fashions reported an effort to popularize short-sleeved, +low-throated suits then in favor at European bathing places and which +had been illustrated in the _Bazar_. Nevertheless, the writer hedged +this report by adding that + + It is thought best, however, to provide an extra pair of long + sleeves that may be buttoned on or basted in the short puffs + that are sewn in the arm holes. Sometimes a small cape fastening + closely about the throat is also added.[42] + + [42] "New York Fashions," _Harper's Bazar_ (July 19, 1873), vol. 6, + no. 29, p. 451. + +Nevertheless, sketches of bathing scenes from the seventies indicate +that some American women wore even shorter sleeves and trousers than +those prescribed by the fashion magazines. + +Linen and wool fabrics were both suggested in the 1840s, but by the +1870s flannel was most frequently used for bathing dresses, with serge +also being recommended. Navy blue, and to a lesser extent, white, gray, +scarlet, and brown were popular colors in checks as well as solid +colors trimmed with white, red, gray, or blue worsted braid. + +[Illustration: Figure 10.--"HOW SHE WENT IN," from _Harper's Bazar_, +August 1870. (Smithsonian photo 61585A.)] + +Bathing mantles or cloaks were worn to conceal the moist figure when +crossing the beach. These garments were made of Turkish toweling with +wide sleeves and hoods, and were so long as "to barely escape" the +ground. + +In 1873 one good bathing cap was described as an oiled silk bag-crown +cap large enough to hold the hair loosely. The frill around the edge was +bound with colored braid. Many ladies preferred, however, to let their +hair hang loose and under a wide-brimmed hat of coarse straw tied down +on the sides to protect their skin from the sun (fig. 9). + +Bathing shoes or slippers were generally worn when the shore was rough +and uneven. In 1871 manila sandals were worn, but the most functional +bathing shoes are said to have been high buskins of thick unbleached +cotton duck with cork soles. They were secured with checked worsted +braid. Two years later there were bathing shoes of white duck or sail +canvas with manila soles. Slippers for walking in the sand were "mules" +or merely toes and soles made of flannel, braided to match the cloak, +and sewn to cork soles. + +Throughout this period the social aspect of bathing predominated over +the therapeutic goals and women were making a greater effort to +transform their bathing garments into attractive and functional outfits. +Motivated by the presence of men at the seashore and by the competition +with other women for masculine attention, ladies were more concerned +with the style of their bathing dresses and appropriate trimmings. Thus +bathing costume joined the ranks of other fashions described in women's +magazines. + +[Illustration: Figure 11.--"HOW SHE CAME OUT," from _Harper's Bazar_, +August 1870. (Smithsonian photo 61585B.)] + +Now that women were frolicking in the water rather than simply being +dunked several times, their costume became somewhat more functional. +Long trousers gave them greater freedom in the water although the skirts +which continued to be worn, tended to negate this improvement. Even as +early as the 1870s there were efforts to shorten sleeves and eliminate +high necklines. This trend to make bathing dress more practical +increased in momentum toward the end of the century. + +[Illustration: Figure 12.--BATHING COSTUMES from a supplement to _The +Tailor's Review_, July 1895. + +(_Courtesy of Library of Congress._)] + + +PRINCESS STYLE BATHING DRESS + +Although attitudes toward sports were more enlightened by the 1880s, +many women continued to wear the old bathing dress with its belted +blouse extending to a long skirt and a pair of trousers. As an alternate +to this garb, the "princess style" was developed with the blouse and +trousers cut in one piece or else sewn permanently to the same belt. A +separate skirt extending below the knee was buttoned at the waist to +conceal the figure. This new style in bathing costume was probably +derived from an innovation in women's underwear. During the late 1870s a +new style of undergarment, the "combination" of chemise and drawers, had +come into use. Petticoats could be fastened to buttons sewn around the +waist of the combination. This streamlining of undergarments helped the +lady of fashion to maintain a desirably svelte figure. Apparently the +advantages of this streamlining were obvious, because it was not long +before women were quietly adapting this style to bathing dresses. By the +1890s the skirt was often omitted for swimming (fig. 12), giving the +more active women more freedom in the water. Following popular dress +styles, the top of the bathing costume was bloused over the belt. The +sailor collar, either large or small, was a great favorite, but a +straight standing collar with rows of white braid was also worn. + +The "princess style" was not the only innovation available in bathing +dress. _Harper's Bazar_ reported in 1881 that imported French bathing +suits[43] for ladies were made without sleeves, since any covering on +the arm interfered with the freedom desirable for swimming. +Nevertheless, according to other contemporary fashion descriptions, +American bathing suits retained their long sleeves until the early 1880s +when the foreign fashion of short sleeves came to the United States. In +1885 it was reported that + + The sleeves may be the merest 'caps' four or five inches deep + under the arm, curved narrow toward the top, and lapped there or + they may be half-long and straight, reaching to the elbows, or + else they may be the regular coat sleeves covering the arms to + the wrist. With the short sleeves it is customary to add the + sleeves cut from a gauze vest to give the arm some protection + from the sun.[44] + + [43] The term "bathing suit" as opposed to "bathing dress" came into + use in the last quarter of the 19th century when the bifurcated + bathing garment with a shorter skirt was widely accepted. The two + terms, however, continued to be used interchangeably, with + "bathing dress" appearing less frequently. + + [44] "New York Fashions," _Harper's Bazar_ (July 4, 1885), vol. 18, + no. 27, p. 427. + +Sleeves were pushed up in 1890 and puffed high about the shoulders by +means of elastic tape in the hem. By 1893 fashion reports acknowledged +that sleeve length was a matter of individual choice. + +Despite this neat resolution of the diminishing sleeve, contemporary +sketches of bathing scenes indicate that some women in the United States +were wearing the shorter sleeves even earlier. + +Short full trousers, reaching just below the knee, accompanied by +knee-length skirts--sometimes worn even shorter--succeeded the long +Turkish trousers and ankle-length skirt. As the trousers diminished in +length, long stockings or bathing shoes with long stocking tops became a +necessary part of the bathing costume to cover the lower limbs, +particularly in mixed bathing (see fig. 1). The stockings, which were +cotton or wool, plain or fancy, and of any color or combination of +colors in keeping with the costume, were worn with a variety of bathing +shoes, sandals, or slippers when bathing off a rocky shore. Foot +coverings were usually made of white canvas; the slippers were held on +by a spiral arrangement of braid or ribbon about the ankles, while the +laced shoes were often made with heavy cork soles. A gaiter shoe or +combination shoe and stocking was made of waterproof cloth, laced up the +sides, and reached to about the knees. Low rubber shoes were also worn. + +Bathing caps of waxed linen or oiled silk were used to protect the hair. +They had whale bone in the brim and could be adjusted by drawstrings in +the back. Blue, white, or ecru rubber hats were also used. These caps +had large full crowns--which held in all the hair--and wired brims. A +wide-brimmed rough straw hat, tied on with a strip of trimming braid or +with ribbon, was sometimes worn as protection against the sun (fig. 9). + +Bathing mantles like those of the 1870s were still being worn by the +late 19th century and these were frequently trimmed with colored braid. +Cotton tapes sewn in parallel rows, mohair braid, or strips of flannel +were still being used to make the bathing dress more attractive. + +Navy blue and white, as well as ecru, maroon, gray, and olive were +popular colors for the bathing dress. In 1890 the writer of a fashion +column thought it pertinent to add that "... black bathing suits are +worn as a matter of choice, not merely by those dressing in +mourning."[45] Apparently the wearing of black no longer had this +exclusive significance when bathing, but prior to 1890 it did. + + [45] Ibid. (July 5, 1890), vol. 23, no. 27, p. 523. + +As women became more active in the water and were learning to swim they +began to accept more practical changes in bathing costume. Not only the +style, as described previously, but also the fabric was considered for +its functional characteristics. Flannel was still widely used but was +being replaced by serge which was not as heavy when wet. Another +indication of this trend was that stockinet, a knitted material, was +gaining in popularity at the end of the century. + +The "princess style" of the early 1890s combined the drawers and bodice +in one garment: the separate skirt fell just short of the ends of the +drawers which covered the knees. By the mid-1890s, however, the drawers +which were now called knickerbockers, were shortened so as to be +completely covered by the knee-length skirt. These knickerbockers were +either attached to the waist in the popular "princess style" or they +were fastened to the waist by a series of flat bone buttons. + +During this same period, the mid-1890s, knitted, cotton tights were +sometimes worn in place of knickerbockers. Bathing tights differed from +the knickerbockers in that they were hemmed rather than gathered on an +elastic band at the lower edge and that they were not attached to the +waist. When tights were used they were completely concealed by a +one-piece, knee-length bathing dress. The use of the more streamlined +bathing tights was another step toward more functional bathing costume. +Despite these improvements, most women continued to wear stockings, +usually black, when they bathed or swam in public. The dictates of +fashion and standards of modesty continued to conflict with practical +considerations. + +[Illustration: Figure 13.--BATHING DRESS OF BLACK "MOHAIR," c. 1900. +(Smithsonian photo 60383.)] + +As with street dress, corsets seem to have been an important though +unseen bathing article necessary for maintaining smart posture. In 1896 +it was reported that + + Unless a woman is very slender, bathing corsets should be worn. + If they are not laced tightly they are a help instead of a + hindrance to swimming, and some support is needed for a figure + that is accustomed to wearing stays.[46] + + [46] Ibid. (June 13, 1896), vol. 29, no. 24, p. 503. + +While describing the bathing dresses available in 1910 an article noted: +"Some of these are made up with ... princess forms that are boned so as +to do away with the bathing corset."[47] + + [47] Ibid. (July 1910), vol. 43, no. 7, p. 552. + +The bodice of the bathing costume continued to be bloused, but by 1905 +it was modified to be merely loose. An article appearing in 1896 noted +that bathing suits should be cut high in the neck, not tight around the +throat, but close enough to prevent burning by the sun. The sailor +collar continued to be used during the late 1890s but became less +fashionable shortly after the turn of the century. Nevertheless there +had to be some white around the neck for the bathing dress to be +considered smart. The puffed sleeves, which had become popular in the +late 1890s were modified in breadth and length to allow free use of the +muscles in swimming (fig. 13). + +In 1897 fashion magazines were suggesting that skirts of bathing dresses +looked best when the front breadth was shaped narrower toward the belt, +while by 1902 the skirts were fitted over the hips in order to delineate +the figure. In 1905 pleated skirts again became fashionable, although +flared skirts were still acceptable. + +Dark blue and black were the popular colors, although white, red, gray, +and green were also used. Flannel was no longer recommended for bathing +dress; serge and "mohair"--a fabric with a cotton warp and a mohair or +alpaca weft--were widely used. The impractical bathing dress of silk +fabric was worn by those who could afford this extravagance; thus, the +conspicuous consumption of the "leisure class" was even found at the +beaches. + +Bathing hats were still being worn but it was considered more +fashionable to wear a rubber or oil silk cap covered with a bright silk +turban when there was a surf. For the bather who seldom ventured very +far into the water the most fashionable practice was to have no covering +at all. + +Throughout the 19th century bathing costume followed an impelling course +toward becoming more functional. As the popularity of recreational +bathing and then swimming for women increased, the number of yards of +fabric required to make a bathing dress decreased. Nevertheless, by the +1900s, many women knew how to swim, but the majority were still bathers. +Thus bathing suits continued in use through the first quarter of the +20th century. + + + + +Swimming Costume + + +Bathing costume did not evolve gracefully into the swim suit, nor was +there an abrupt replacement of one garment for the other. Instead, a +garb designed for swimming emerged in the 19th century as tentatively +and as poorly received as had the suggestion that women should be active +in the water. The growing popularity of swimming and the changing status +of women eventually made it possible for the swimming suit to replace +the bathing suit in the 1920s. By the 1930s, however, this trend was +accelerated by a growing advertising and ready-to-wear clothing +industry. Thus a history of the swimming costume tends to divide itself +into two sections: early swimming suits and the influence of the swim +suit industry. + + +EARLY SWIMMING SUITS + +The earliest reference to swimming costume I have found was in 1869. At +this date swimming in the United States was considered a masculine +skill, exercise, and recreation; only men were provided with a real +opportunity to swim at popular watering places. As described previously, +_Harper's Bazar_ reported that American women in general rejected the +European bathing suit made with long trousers and a skirtless waist. +Nevertheless, this costume was "... worn by expert swimmers, who do not +wish to be encumbered with bulky clothing."[48] + + [48] "New York Fashions," _Harper's Bazar_ (July 10, 1869), vol. 2, + no. 28, p. 435. + +In the 1870s the rare descriptions of this more functional +garment--called "swimming suit" even at this early date--were limited to +a sentence or two buried within long columns of fine print describing +popular bathing apparel. One mentions a "... single knitted worsted +garment, fitting the figure, with waist and trousers in one."[49] +Another was made without sleeves as "one garment, the blouse and +trousers being cut all in one, like the sleeping garments worn by small +children."[50] These more practical bifurcated garments probably derived +from the European suit of the 1860s that had been rejected by the +majority of American women. For example, an English source reported that +in 1866 the following garment was worn: "... Swimming Costume, a body +and trousers cut in one, secures perfect liberty of action and does not +expose the figure."[51] + + [49] Ibid. (July 13, 1872), vol. 5, no. 28, p. 459. + + [50] Ibid. (July 25, 1874), vol. 7, no. 30, p. 475. + + [51] As quoted in C. WILLETT CUNNINGTON, _English Women's Clothing in + the 19th Century_ (New York: Thomas Yoseloff, 1958), p. 225. + +The descriptions of American swimming suits, however brief, offered +evidence that the pastime was growing in popularity with women. +Generally speaking, 19th century women's magazines were mere +disseminators of fine and decorous ideas and practices for well-mannered +ladies; their editors were not innovators. With such an editorial policy +it is understandable that these magazines would not, as a rule, +publicize trends of popular origin until they were fairly well +established. The skirtless swimming suit of the 1870s was no doubt more +common in the United States than its meager description in _Harper's +Bazar_ would seem to indicate. + +As long as feminine swimming was not generally accepted, however, +efforts to develop practical swimming suits remained isolated owing to +the lack of communication between manufacturer and consumer and to +traditional attitudes. Feminine interest in swimming and physical +activities threatened belief in the "weaker-sex" that contributed to +maintaining the traditional masculine and feminine roles; efforts to +develop functional swimming dress also attacked established standards of +feminine modesty. These challenges to the status quo were met with the +weapon of the complacent majority--silence. Consequently, from the third +quarter of the 19th century, when we find the first reference to a +specialized garment for swimming in the United States, writings on +swimming costume appeared infrequently until the 1920s. + +In 1886 two "ladies' bathing jerseys" and two bathing suits of the +traditional type appeared in the _First Illustrated Catalogue of Knitted +Bathing Suits_ of J. J. Pfister Company in San Francisco. The captions +over the illustrations leave no question that the briefer bathing +jerseys were intended for swimming while the others were for bathing. +These jerseys--form-fitting tunics that were mid-thigh in length--were +made with high necks and cap sleeves. Underneath this garment women wore +trunks that extended to the knee and stockings; there was also the +alternate choice of tights, a combination of trunks and stockings. To +complete the outfit the feminine reader was encouraged to buy a knitted +skull cap. + +Apparently these bathing jerseys were successful; three, instead of two, +jerseys appeared in the same catalog in 1890. It is obvious from this +later catalog, however, that there was a greater demand for bathing +dresses since twelve designs of the skirted costume were featured as +opposed to the two dresses in the first issue. + +[Illustration: Figure 14.--THE RECOMMENDED COSTUME FOR SWIMMING from J. +Parmly Paret, _The Woman's Book of Sports_, 1901. (Smithsonian photo +58436.)] + +Even by the early 20th century it is difficult to find specific +references to a swimming suit in women's magazines; only occasionally +does a concern with swimming obtrude into the traditional descriptions +of bathing dress. In _The Woman's Book of Sports_, however, J. Parmly +Paret was specific about the requirements for a suitable swimming +costume in 1901. + + It is particularly important that nothing tight should be worn + while swimming, no matter how fashionable a dress may be for + bathing. The exercise requires the greatest freedom, and a + swimming costume should never include corsets, tight sleeves, or + a skirt below the knees. The freedom of the shoulders is the + most important of all, but anything tight around the body + interferes with the breathing and the muscles of the back, while + a long skirt--even one a few inches below the knees--binds the + legs constantly in making their strokes.[52] + + [52] J. PARMLY PARET, _The Woman's Book of Sports_ (New York: D. + Appleton & Co., 1901), p. 74. + +Although this costume (fig. 14) more closely resembles the traditional +bathing dress than the jersey described previously, this discussion +illustrates the growing dichotomy between bathing dress and swimming +dress and between fashionable styles and functional styles. + +Photographs of East coast beach scenes in 1903 show a few women wearing +costumes different from the black or navy blue bathing dress worn by the +majority. These independent spirits seem to be wearing close-fitting +knitted trunks that cover the knees or, when with stockings, come within +an inch or two above the knee. Above these trunks they appear to be +wearing knitted one-piece tunics or belted blouses that cover the hips. +This costume, sleeveless or short-sleeved, and with a simplified +neckline, must have been the functional suit of its day. + +An important impetus was given to the development of the swimming suit +with the entrance of women into swimming as a competitive sport. On +September 5, 1909, Adeline Trapp wore a one-piece knitted swimming suit +when she became the first woman to swim across the East River in New +York, through the treacherous waters of Hell Gate. Both the swimming +suit and the swim were part of a campaign devised by Wilbert +Longfellow--of the U.S. Volunteer Life Saving Corps--to encourage women +to learn to swim. + +Adeline Trapp was a summer employee of the Life Saving Corps in 1909. +Mr. Longfellow saw in the 20-year-old Brooklyn school teacher a +respectable young woman who could be a source of publicity. He ordered +her to get a one-piece swimming suit for the swim. As early as 1899 in +England, a woman participating in competitions organized by the Amateur +Swimming Association could have worn a one-piece, skirtless, knitted +costume with a shaped sleeve at least three inches long, a slightly +scooped neck, and legs that extended to within three inches of the knee. +Mr. Longfellow may have had this English suit in mind. He might have +known of similar suits in the United States or he might have simply +wanted to free Adeline of yards of fabric to make her more competitive +with male swimmers. Nevertheless, Adeline Trapp did not know that the +English suits existed, nor did she know where she could find one. She +spent many hours going from one American manufacturer to another trying +on men's knitted suits. She found that they were all cut too low at the +neck and armholes and did not cover enough of the legs to preclude +criticism. At this point a friend who worked for a stocking manufacturer +offered to get her a suitable costume from England. This costume, a +knitted, gray cotton suit--whether originally for a man or woman in +England is not known--was the one Adeline wore when she swam Hell Gate. + +Although more than thirty men attempted the swim, the fact that a woman +accomplished the feat made newspaper headlines. Following this event, +Miss Trapp received a terse letter from the Brooklyn School Board +stating that they thought it improper for an educator of Brooklyn +children to appear in public so scantily dressed in a one-piece swimming +costume. For her future swims Adeline Trapp was careful to have someone +carry a blanket to throw over her as she emerged from the water.[53] + + [53] Telephone interview with Adeline Trapp Mulhenberg, May 1966. + +In 1910, Annette Kellerman arrived in the United States from Australia +by way of England. For her fancy diving exhibitions she wore sleeveless +one-piece knitted swimming tights that covered her from neck to toe--a +costume she had probably adopted in England. + +The decade from 1910 to 1920 was a crucial period in the history of +bathing and swimming costume. Popular attitudes were changing in favor +of the woman who swam but, as frequently occurs in social reforms, there +was a cultural lag between public opinion and the policies of +institutions. The Red Cross, which began its excellent water safety +program in 1914, taught women to swim but did not admit women as Life +Saving Corps members until 1920. Symbolic of the conflict between old +and new attitudes were the relative roles of bathing and swimming +costume during this period. As Annette Kellerman described them: + + There are two kinds ... those that are adapted for use in water, + and those that are unfit for use except on dry land. If you are + going to swim, wear a water bathingsuit. But if you are merely + going to play on the beach, and pose for the camera fiends, you + may safely wear the dry land variety.... I am certain that there + isn't a single reason under the sun why everybody should not + wear lightweight suits. Anyone who persuades you to wear the + heavy skirty kind is endangering your life.[54] + + [54] ANNETTE KELLERMAN, _How to Swim_ (New York: George H. Doran + Company, 1918), p. 47. + +Chic women's magazines, however, were still reluctant to admit in their +fashion pages that a more utilitarian costume existed. The June 1, 1917 +issue of _Vogue_ reported that there were two kinds of bathing suits: a +loose straight suit and those on surplice lines, "... which hold their +place by virtue of being so very becoming."[55] + + [55] _Vogue_ (June 1, 1917), vol. 49, no. 11, p. 85. + +The most popular of these, the surplice, was not a novelty of the season +but a continuation of 19th century bathing suit styles. Fashion +illustrations show that the hemline of the skirt was approaching the +middle of the knee, with the bloomers remaining hidden. There was also a +revival of the style that permitted the bloomers to show several inches +below the skirt. In this case the bloomers reached the knee and the +skirt was several inches shorter. Both versions were shown with short +sleeves or cap sleeves, or sleeveless; "V" necklines with collars and +square necklines were widely used. The more fashionable creations were +made of silk taffeta or "surf satin," while the majority were made of +"mohair," wool jersey, worsted, or closely woven cotton. Black and navy +blue were unquestionably the favorite colors. + +The loose straight suit, which evidently gained its inspiration from the +chemise frock of the period, had no waistline and hung straight from the +shoulders (fig. 15); a belt or sash was frequently looped below the +natural waistline on the hips. The chemise-type of bathing suit differed +from the surplice only in having no fitted waist and requiring less +fabric. + +[Illustration: Figure 15.--BLACK SILK BATHING DRESS, 1923. + +(Smithsonian photo P-65412.)] + +In the June 15, 1917 issue, _Vogue_ modified its position of two weeks +earlier to acknowledge that there was a third style of costume worn in +the water. Again, the descriptions of the surplice and chemise-type +bathing suits were accompanied by numerous illustrations. No drawings, +however, were published to show the knitted jersey suit that was +described as "... usually sleeveless, quite short and fairly straight +..." and "... intended for the woman who swims expertly."[56] + + [56] Ibid. (June 15, 1917), vol. 49, no. 12, p. 67. + +As late as the early 1920s, the fashion pages of _Harper's Bazar_ and +_Vogue_ were concentrated on the bathing suits, aiming at readers +involved in the social life of the seaside resorts--lounging about the +beach with occasional splashing in the water. The growing numbers of +women who wanted swimming suits, however, had only to turn to the +advertising sections of these same magazines to find that even in 1915 +such shops as Bonwit Teller & Co. and B. Altman & Co. were advertising +knitted swimming suits. + +In June 1916, _Delineator_ solved the dilemma of bathing versus swimming +costume in an intriguing article written to sell a pattern for a bathing +costume. In description and presentation of illustrations, the article +emphasized a costume with "all the features essential to a practical +swimming-suit."[57] The blouse and bloomers were attached at the waist +in this garment which had a square neckline and no skirt or sleeves. +Made up in wool jersey, this would have been a practical swimming +costume for the period. But this was not the only style available from +this one pattern. The following variations were included: a sailor +collar on a "V" neckline; a high-standing collar, long sleeves; and a +detachable skirt with the fullness either pleated or gathered into a +waistband, to be worn long to the knees or just short enough to show +several inches of the bloomer. In this way _Delineator_ succeeded in +satisfying nearly every degree of conservatism--an amazing +accomplishment. + + [57] "For the Modern Mermaid," _Delineator_ (June 1916), vol. 38, no. + 6, p. 52. + +The spring edition of _Sears, Roebuck and Co. Catalog_ for 1916 offered +a one-piece, or "California-style," knitted worsted bathing suit with +the underpiece sewn to a skirt. This costume was less elaborate than the +other dresses shown, although it was still knee length. The 1918 spring +catalog showed two one-piece knitted outfits suitable for swimming in +striking contrast to the surplice bathing dresses that were also +offered. By 1920 all of the bathing costumes illustrated in the _Sears, +Roebuck and Co. Catalog_ were of the more abbreviated and functional +type. + +In 1918 Annette Kellerman recommended that serious swimmers wear +close-fitting swimming tights or the two-piece suits commonly worn by +men. Being quick to admit that this costume would not be tolerated at +all beaches, she told dedicated swimmers to + + ... get one-piece tights anyway and wear over the tights the + lightest garment you can get. It should be a loose sleeveless + garment hung from the shoulders. Never have a tight waist band. + It is a hindrance. Also on beaches where stockings are enforced + your one-piece undergarment should have feet, so that the + separate stocking and its attendant garter is abolished.[58] + + [58] Loc. cit. (footnote 54). + +[Illustration: Figure 16.--ONE-PIECE SWIMMING SUIT OF KNITTED WOOL, c. +1918. (Smithsonian photo P-65413.)] + +Knitted swimming suits found in advertisements of the period were either +one-piece or two-piece; the trunks were attached or separate, but they +always extended a few inches below the brief skirt. Although this +costume could be considered sleeveless, in some examples the suit was +built up under the arm--a concession to the demands of modesty (fig. +16). The scooped or "V" neckline with no collar was relatively high; in +order to put on or remove the suit it was unbuttoned at one shoulder. + +It was this type of swimming costume which evolved into the garment that +dominated the fashion pages of the mid-1920s. + +Changes in costume brought about by the acceptance of swimming also +affected leg covering. By 1920 fashion pages showed stockings that +reached only to the calf and many advertisements for the abbreviated +knitted bathing suits presented the lower leg covered with only the high +laced bathing shoe (fig. 17) or, in a few cases, bare. Bathing slippers +were black satin or black or white canvas held on the feet by ribbon +criss-crossed up the leg to tie at mid-calf. Shoes were of satin or +canvas, laced in the front to mid-calf. + +There was a wide variety of colorful rubber caps; some were gathered on +a band or with a ruffle while others were closely fitted with brims. +Also popular was a close-fitting rubber cap with a colorful scarf tied +around it; swimmers did without the scarf. + +Despite the distinction between the two types of bathing apparel, the +beach cloak continued to be used by both the serious swimmer and those +who stayed safely in the shallows. Some bathing wraps had large collars +and were only mid-calf in length. Colorful beach hats, beach parasols, +bags, and blankets were used, particularly by the bather who seldom got +wet. + +The acceptance of swimming as a feminine activity provided an impetus +for the use of the knitted swimming suit; but standards of modesty had +to change before this suit could gain wide acceptance. Bathing dresses +of the 19th century had been designed to cover, conceal, and obscure not +only the torso but the limbs as well. The swimming suit that was gaining +acceptance in the early 1920s not only revealed the arms and a good part +of the legs, but actually dared to follow the lines of the torso. +Contemporary descriptions, that seem amusingly cautious today, included +such statements as "... all Annette Kellerman Bathing Attire is +distinguished by an incomparable, daring beauty of fit that always +remains refined."[59] Even less cautious was a statement that these +bathing suits were "famous ... for their perfect fit and exquisite, +plastic beauty of line."[60] + + [59] _Harper's Bazar_ (June 1920), vol. 55, no. 6, p. 138. + + [60] Ibid. (June 1921), 54th year, no. 2504, p. 101. + +The growing numbers of women who wore the new styles of bathing dress +were a cause of concern to self-appointed guardians of decency. In 1917 +the convention of the American Association of Park Superintendents at +New Orleans adopted a series of bathing regulations for city beaches +which dealt with the problems of the changing bathing suit. In general +these regulations specified that "... No all-white or flesh-colored +suits are permitted or suits that expose the chest lower than a line +drawn on a level with the arm pits."[61] In regard to ladies' bathing +suits these men agreed that + + Blouse and bloomer suits may be worn with or without stockings, + provided the blouse has quarter-arm sleeves or close-fitting arm + holes, and provided the bloomers are full and not shorter than + four inches above the knee.[62] + + [61] "Bathing Regulations for City Beaches," _American City_ (May + 1917), vol. 16, no. 5, p. 537. + + [62] Loc. cit. (footnote 61). + +Regulations for knitted suits were similar, with the added caution that +the skirt hem could be no more than two inches above the lower edge of +the trunks. As late as 1923 these regulations were in effect at public +beaches in Cleveland and Chicago. + +By 1923 a permanent change was occurring in the design of beach apparel. +The chemise-style bathing dress of black taffeta or satin still appeared +in the fashion magazines (fig. 15), but by 1929 it had disappeared. The +result of the struggle between the fancy bathing suit and the plain +knitted suit became obvious even in the popular magazines of the period. +In the opening paragraphs of a short story, Shirley, the villainess, +donned a smart bathing suit of puffy black taffeta, with a +patent-leather belt and a scarlet scarf, and baked in the shadow of a +big umbrella. Margaret, the heroine, in a plain knitted suit and black +cap was intent only upon diving, plunging, and splashing for her own +enjoyment. In another story a young lady, who came out of the sea +wearing a "... bathing suit so scanty it seemed a mere gesture flung +carelessly to the proprieties ..." described herself as a modern young +woman.[63] + + [63] JANE PRIDE, "Pick-up," _Delineator_ (May 1927), vol. 110, no. 5, + p. 15. + +In the early twenties advertisements capitalized on the functional +characteristics of swimming suits. A 1923 advertisement declared: + + No! No! Not a bathing suit! No! The Wil Wite is a swimming suit. + The difference is great--very great. A bathing suit is something + in which to "Sun" oneself and wear on the beach. A swimming suit + is a garment made expressly for those who swim. It is free from + frills and furbelows. It follows the form with the same + sincerity that a neat silk stocking clings to a trim ankle. It + fits when dry or wet ... it is a real swimming suit.[64] + + [64] _Harper's Bazar_ (June 1923), 56th year, no. 2528, p. 5. + +The knitted swimming suit which achieved dominance over the bathing suit +in the 1920s was similar to its earlier version except that both the +armhole and the neckline were lower. This made it possible to put on the +suit without unbuttoning one of the straps at the shoulder--a feature +that was omitted in this newer style. Sometimes a sash was looped +loosely around the waist; a geometrically shaped monogram provided a +smart decoration. The affluent swimmer could distinguish herself from +the masses by wearing silk jersey. During the last half of this decade +women coquettishly adopted a man's swimming suit, consisting of a +striped sleeveless jersey shirt with dark colored trunks and a white +belt. + +[Illustration: Figure 17.--BATHING SHOES, 1910. (Smithsonian photo +P-65417.)] + +Perhaps the last stand for the bathing dress was the appearance of the +"dressmaker suit" toward the end of the 1920s and on into the early +1930s. The neck and shoulder line copied those of currently fashionable +evening dresses, with a parallel treatment of the skirt, which was +shortened to end just below the hips. This suit was worn by women +reluctant to brave the revealingly unadorned but popular swimming suit. + +A depilatory advertisement took advantage of the increasing +"stockingless vogue" and explained that "Women who love swimming for the +sake of the sport, find stockings a great hindrance to their +enjoyment."[65] By the end of the twenties, the stocking for bathing +and swimming had become an article of the past. + + [65] _Delineator_ (June 1923), vol. 102, no. 6, p. 95. + +Although women were accepted in athletics and had achieved a generally +wider role in public life, white, untanned skin was still the ideal in +the 1920s. Thus sunproof creams, beach coats, and beach umbrellas were +still important. + +According to the well-known "trickle-down" theory of fashion, styles of +dress first become fashionable among the socially elite and wealthy and +are then, in time, emulated by those at lower socio-economic levels. The +knitted swimming suit, however, entered the fashion pages by a different +route. It had its insignificant start with the skirtless bifurcated +garments of the late 1860s. Going against popular opinion, some women +did swim. They violated prevalent standards of modesty by continuing to +wear a functional suit. Gradually the demand grew. A plain, utilitarian +garment was needed; pressure increased. Thus, by the 1920s the swimming +suit prevailed, complimenting the image of the newly emancipated "modern +woman." + + +SWIM SUIT INDUSTRY + +Along with the increased popularity of swimming and the appearance of +the knitted swimming suit we note the rapid development of the +ready-to-wear swim suit industry. During the last half of the 19th +century women frequently made their own bathing dresses with the aid of +paper pattern supplements that appeared in women's magazines of the +period. Dressmakers also may have used these patterns to outfit their +clients for their summer excursions. On the other hand, ladies in the +large cities could purchase bathing dresses at furnishing stores or rent +them at the large public beaches. A small advertisement in _Harper's +Bazar_, August 9, 1873, announced that in addition to gauze undershirts, +linen drawers, collars and cuffs, Union Adams & Co. of New York had +bathing dresses for sale. The notice is noteworthy when one considers +that the ready-to-wear clothing industry and the field of advertising +were in their infancy. + +With the increased popularity of the knitted suit, knitting mills +included men's and women's swimming apparel in their more prosaic lines +of underwear and sweaters. Many companies advertised the new product, +steadily increasing their range until the inevitable occurred. In 1921 a +national advertising campaign for swimming suits was initiated by +Jantzen, a hitherto obscure knitting mill whose production had been +limited to sweaters, woolen hosiery, and jackets for Chinese workmen. +Capitalizing on the growing interest in swimming, Jantzen prominently +advertised swimming suits instead of bathing dresses. The retail stores +selling these suits advertised locally, but national advertising became +the domain of the manufacturers, educating the public to associate +certain positive qualities with their names. + +To the delight of the swim suit industry, swimming was more than a +passing vogue. In 1934, a National Recreation Association study on the +use of leisure time found that among ninety-four free-time activities +swimming was second only to movies in popularity.[66] Although the +number of swimmers was increasing, competition caused the swim suit +industry to take a new approach. Manufacturers attempted to increase the +volume of sales through advertising by emphasizing style. In 1927 one +company advertised a national appeal to woman's vanity by declaring that +beach _uniforms_ were out and that beach _styles_ were in. + + [66] _The Leisure Hours of 5,000 People; a Report of a Study of + Leisure Time Activities and Desires_ (New York, National + Recreation Assoc., 1934). + +It was a general characteristic of the 1930s that swimming suits covered +less of the bather. The attached trunks of the swimming suit no longer +extended down the leg but it survived unseen beneath the vestigial +remains of a skirt. + +The diminishing coverage of the swim suit was also related to a changing +attitude toward sun exposure. For years women had protected their +delicate skin to prevent any unladylike, healthy appearance. The barrier +against a lady having a tan deteriorated as women became accepted into +athletic activities. By 1930, women eagerly sought a sun tan. Not only +were there lotions to help the neophyte sun-worshiper acquire a rich +even tan, but creams were available for the impatient who wished an +instant tan. In line with this trend, swim suit manufacturers and +sellers promoted and sold low sun-back or California styles, halter +necks, and cut-out sections that exposed various portions of the +midriff. The favorite suit, however, was the form-fitting maillot of +wool jersey with no skirt. + +In the early 1930s, the textile trade journals applauded the increasing +stress on styling as a means of encouraging the consumer to buy a new +suit rather than to use "last year's." Stylishness was introduced into +knitted suits through the use of a greater range of solid colors. +Parti-colored suits, with stripes and slashes of a second or even a +third color, were also featured (fig. 18). Knitting mills were pressed +to introduce novelty effects such as mesh, waffle motifs, and lace +patterns in knitted fabrics. + +[Illustration: Figure 18. ONE-PIECE SWIMMING SUITS OF KNITTED WOOL, +1930. (_Courtesy of Cole of California._)] + +The insistent emphasis on novelty encouraged the development of such +items as all-rubber swimming suits with embossed surfaces simulating +knitted textiles. Although this innovation was not successful, because +the suits were clammy and easily torn, rubber did find a definite use in +swimming suits with the introduction of Lastex--a yarn made with a core +of rubber wrapped by a fine thread of another fiber. The following +advertisement for swimming suits made with Lastex best explains why this +important innovation is still valued by the industry today: + + There's no wrinkle, no bag, no sag, even under the most ruthless + sun! No other human device can even approximate that utter + freedom, that perfection of fit, at rest or in motion, that airy + but strictly legal sense of wearing nothing at all. There is no + substitute for this elastic yarn, which imparts lasting + elasticity to any fabric.[67] + + [67] _Harper's Bazaar_ (June 1934), 68th year, no. 2660, p. 9. + +Having exhausted the novelty effects of knitted swim suits, women in the +late 1930s began to respond eagerly to the wide range of decorative +possibilities found in woven fabrics. Cotton and the relatively new +man-made fibers such as Celanese acetate and Dupont rayon were used in +fabrics such as ginghams, chambrays, piques, and featherweight elastic +satins. To the pleasure of the fashion editors, who claimed to be +anxious for some relief from the nudity of the maillot, suits of woven +fabrics were made with flared skirts. These had knitted linings of +cotton, acetate, or wool which satisfied any taste as to warmth or +coolness on the beach. The belief was prevalent that a wool swimming +suit was needed for warmth. In the 1940s the two-piece, bare-midriff +suit with tight shorts or flared skirt was a popular and logical +development from the earlier suits with cut-out sections around the +midriff. The more extreme French bikini, however, was not adopted by +American women when it was first introduced in the 1940s. + +By the end of the forties the one-piece swimming suit staged a comeback +with a slight variation: the new suits were structurally sculptured to +mold, control, and stay put while swimming or sunning. They were the +product of ingenious engineering, inside and out. The use of shirring +and skillful cutting and handling of fabric focused attention on the +bust line, while the frequent use of Lastex tended to streamline the +hips like a girdle. Inside, the careful use of wire and plastic boning +permitted many of these suits to assume a shape of their own and even to +be worn without straps. + +A short-lived revival of the covered-up look appeared in the fashion +pages in 1954 but, unlike the suits with covered arms and neck of the +previous century, these suits drew attention to the parts of the body +that were covered. The fate of this unsuccessful novelty is a good +illustration of the fact that, ultimately, the buyer has the final word +in the volatile field of feminine fashion. The swim suit manufacturers +apparently misinterpreted the American woman's readiness to discard the +more revealing two-piece suit in favor of an altered form of the +maillot. Always ready with novelties to make last year's suit obsolete, +the manufacturers tried to encourage women into a more extreme +covered-up look. Despite the power of national advertising women were +unwilling to go back in time. The female beach-goer and sun-worshiper +opposed a suit that might interfere with the tanning process. + +By 1960, the production of swim suits had become a big business with +mass distribution and mass markets. Expanded world-wide transportation +facilities and increased leisure and affluence in the United States +created a demand for midwinter vacation clothing for use in warmer +climates, and the manufacturing of swim suits became a year-round +undertaking, producing 14,728 million knitted and woven suits in +women's, misses, and junior sizes in 1960.[68] + + [68] Compiled from "Production of Selected Items of Knit Outerwear and + Swimwear; 1960-1961," _Apparel Survey 1961_ (1962), series + M23A(61)-2, p. 14. + + + + +Conclusions + + +The earliest bathing dress for women in the United States may have been +an old smock or shift, followed by a bathing gown based on the shift or +chemise. Although women's bathing and swimming costume achieved an +identity of its own during the 19th century, the evolution of this garb +followed certain innovations in women's underclothing, namely, drawers +in the first half of the 19th century, the "combination" of the late +1870s, and the brassiere and panties of the 1930s. The greatest number +of minor style changes, however, were direct reflections of fashions in +street dress. The rising hemline and, at times, the discarding of a +skirt during periods when women wore long dresses for other activities +can be attributed to changes caused by the functional requirements of +bathing and swimming; the shortening of sleeves and trousers in the last +quarter of the 19th century were also functional improvements. The +benefits of the shorter trousers, however, were minimized when modesty +required women to cover their exposed legs with stockings. + +Swimming suits have been considered a 20th century innovation; in fact +one corporation is under the impression that a member of their staff was +responsible for the first use of the term "swimming suit" early in the +century. The findings presented in this paper show that some women were +wearing "swimming suits" that were distinctly different from bathing +dresses as early as the 1870s and that both co-existed for some 50 +years. Bathing dresses disappeared in the 1920s with the widespread +acceptance of its functional counterpart; "bathing suit" no longer +referred to a special type of costume but became interchangeable with +the term "swimming suit." + +The insistent trend toward more functional costume reached its ultimate +conclusion with the refinements of the knitted swimming suit in the +1930s. Subsequent changes have not improved upon the functional design +of this classic suit. In many instances these variations have been +merely to satisfy the feminine desire for distinctive apparel and the +industry's need for perishable fashions. Female competitive swimmers +have continued to wear the simple knitted suit--now of nylon rather than +wool. + +The changes since the 1930s have shown a trend toward diminution in the +coverage of the swimming suit. One cannot be certain what this means for +the future, but it is unlikely that either the swim suit industry or +standards of modesty of the near future will permit a total elimination +of swimming costume. We can be assured, however, that so long as women +swim, they will not repeat history by swathing themselves with yards of +fabric. + + +U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1969 + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Women's Bathing and Swimming Costume +in the United States, by Claudia B. 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