Splash!

by

Lauren Roberts

The Caribbean ocean was warm, a gloriously soft turquoise with a bed of white sand providing a border between the water and the palm trees. Yet as she emerged from the sea like Venus from her shell all that was forgotten. It is the most famous scene in Dr. No—and it’s interesting that both Ursula Andress and Sean Connery played, at least in this scene, second fiddle to a white bikini.

Bikinis were not new. They had, in fact, been officially introduced in 1946. But it was that suit on that body in that scene that set off a mad scramble for them and make bikinis de rigueur beach wear from then on.

Bathing costumes have a long history, going back as early as 350 B.C. in Greece. But nude bathing was also quite common. Public bathing was quite popular then and later in the Roman Empire as can be seen in the familiar mosaic wall in a classical Sicilian villa displaying young Roman women wearing what eerily resembles the early modern bikinis.. But historians also believe that toga-like swimming costumes may have been worn as well.

After the fall of the Roman Empire and especially during the Middle Ages, bathing, especially public bathing, was seen as undesirable. Remember that Christianity had a stranglehold on many societies, and bodily desires were supposed to be suppressed in favor of religious fervor. Swimming costumes, naturally, died out and from then until the early nineteenth century they were pretty much unheard of.

At that time the practice of public bathing was being rejuvenated. The invention of the railway made rail travel widely available, and the seashore became a popular destination.

Though technological developments in the nineteenth century, mainly the swift transportation provided by railroads, now made vacation trips to the seashore viable as well as desirable for many, most “swims” of the time were at the time nothing more than brief dips in the water with women on one side of the beach and men on the other. Modesty was the keyword. Style, if it existed at all, was minimal.

Bathing “gowns” for women—and that is a fairly accurate description for a garment that wasn’t much less than everyday wear—consisted of a dress that would not become transparent when wet and into which lead weights had been sewn to prevent the dress from floating upward in the water and exposing the wearer’s legs. But the increased interest in swimming, surf diving, and diving made obvious the need for special costumes that while retaining modesty, enabled the wearers to engage in these active sports. Men’s swimsuits, though certainly more comfortable, were still modest: form-fitting wool garments with long sleeves and legs similar to long underwear.

Such fashion developments were radical at the time, though today they appear beyond ridiculous. Initially, these “swimsuits” consisted of long-sleeved, full-length flannel or wool swimming gowns with weighted hems, full-length bloomers worn beneath the gown, and swim bonnets which were similar to shower caps. This image (above) from 1855 shows that while the costumes unquestionably modest, they were unwieldy and, when wet, must have been heavy enough to have caused more than one death by drowning. Despite those apparent dangers, the moral codes were strong enough that such costumes remained quite popular for the majority of the nineteenth century.

Changes took place but they were slow in coming and for a while not much better. One was the replacement of bloomers with black stockings; another was that sleeves become shorter and eventually disappeared altogether. But these took time.

It was in America that the history of major changes in the swimsuit took place—and relatively rapidly once the twentieth century arrived. Swimming as a sport was growing ever more popular and the women who participated had, by the early 1900s, become tired of the heavy woolen swimsuits. What was now worn was a leotard-type top with shorts, bathing socks, and a hat. While cumbersome by our standards, it was shocking to some since it allowed public exposure of skin not seen since Roman Empire days.

Daring became the password. In 1909, Australian professional swimmer, vaudeville and film star, writer, and advocate for the change of women's swimwear Annette Kellerman visited the United States as an “underwater ballerina” who performed a version of synchronized swimming. She was arrested for indecent exposure for her one-piece bathing suit that revealed her neck, arms, and legs. While she changed the suit so it included long arms, legs and a collar, she did keep the close fit that revealed her shape beneath. A mere year later, her original suit had become the generally accepted style of swimsuit for women, setting off a trend for lighter and briefer suits. Stockings were still worn, however, but they did not go all the way up. As can be seen on the Jantzen site, their first icon of the diving woman shows her wearing them. Her thighs remain bare, but her calves are covered. 

From 1900 to about 1930, there were major and rapid changes to swimming costumes, especially for women. Arms were now exposed. Black was no longer the only color for suits. Necklines were cut lower. Leg openings rose to mid-thigh.

And sometime in the mid-20s stockings disappeared. As can be seen on Jantzen’s site, the first image of the diving girl dated 1920 is nearly comparable to the one on the bookmark, the major difference being the lack of  stockings. (However, on the bookmark girl, there is no stripe on her bathing cap and her hair is bobbed. Since the suit is vastly different from the 1928 image, it is safe to assume that the bookmark was likely dated 1924-1925.)

Jantzen was founded in Portland, Oregon in 1910. though it was originally called the Portland Knitting Company. It consisted of founders Carl Jantzen, and Roy and John Zehntbauer and a few hand-knitting machines in a room above a small retail store. Three years later, it showed the first of its innovations in swimwear by introducing the first rig-stitch bathing suit for the Portland Rowing Club. The suits soon became popular with swimmers, and as demand increased the company changed its name to Jantzen Knitting Mills. The “swimming suits” were made of 100% virgin wool with matching stockings and stocking caps.

Swimsuits also began to sport flirty aspects, the leg completely bare,  the suit often having a short skirt. Jantzen began a national advertising campaign that put cutouts and decals of its red diving girl on windshields of cars. The Jantzen Swimming Association sponsored swimming education and other programs, and swimming celebrities—Johnny Weismuller, Duke Kahanamoku and others—were recruited to provide endorsements. Members of the 1924 and 1928 American Olympic swimming teams wore Jantzen suits; in the latter year, many other countries’ teams did too.

The suits were still made of wool, but in 1925 Lastex was introduced. This was a an elastic, two-way stretch textile made with Latex. It made possible a more form fitted suit, which debuted in the 1930s. Designer Elsa Schaparelli patented a backless swimsuit (with a built-in bra) to allow for strap-free tanning, and Jantzen introduced its “Shouldaire” strap-free style in 1931.

Four styles emerged in this decade: the maillot (a one-piece), the sheath, the two-piece, and the “dress-maker.” Of them, the latter became the most enduring. It consisted of a malliot with variations that “enhanced” the female figure and disguised “problems.” Glamour was increased by the use of Esther Williams and Dorothy Lamour in films that features synchronized swimming, and swimsuit design began to accommodate the moves with higher-cut legs and figure-hugging shapes. And the Jantzen catalogs featured even more stars including upcoming ones like Loretta Young, Joan Blondell, Ginger Rogers, and Dick Powell.

But the biggest change in the swimsuit industry came in the 1940s—the introduction of the bikini. Prior to 1946, most swimsuits of the era were pretty conservative. They were cut above the navel and the tops covered and supported the bust modestly. Then, in France, two fashion designers, Jacques Heim and Louis Reard, working separately with the rationing still in effect from the war years, designed small two-piece swimsuits. Heim produced his, called the Atome” for the smallest known particle of matter at the time, for his beach shop in Cannes. He even sent out skywriters to advertise it above the Mediterrean as “the world’s smallest bathing suit.” Reard having produced a similar style and cut named his the “bikini” after the island on which atomic testing was being carried out. He then proceeded to outdo Heim by sending out another set of skywriters just three weeks afterward to advertise his suit as “smaller than the smallest bathing suit in the world.” (One year later, the bikini hit American shores. But until the summer of 1960, many American women shied away from it. In fact, it was, if not actually banned, heavily discouraged on beaches prior to 1960, and it wasn’t until two years after that, that the first of the James Bond films hit the theaters, and Ursula Andress as Honey Ryder put the bikini on the map forever. The “Bond Girl” suit was in the future, though. In the 1940s, however advertising stated it, the bikini was decidedly modest in cut and design with the bottoms covering the navel.)

Despite the bikini’s dominance, it wasn’t the only suit of the era. There was the popular “Taboo,” a kind of diaper trunk tied into large bows at the back of the waist and thighs so as to leave a bit of hip exposed to the sun. Camouflage colors, due to wartime restrictions on fabric, became popular, and linen, cotton, sharkskin and rayon were the favored materials. By war’s end, synthetic fibers had overtaken natural ones, and Celanese rayon, satin Lastex, and Nylastic were popular choices for swimsuit material.

Interestingly, corset manufacturers, suffering from changes in fashion, saw possibilities swimsuits. The exposure of the body  meant opportunities to sell women on designs that incorporated stretch tummy control panels and bra cups and boning for bust support.

In the post-war decade of the 1950s, suits became “constructed” much as the cars of the era did. Jutting angles, bulbous shapes, curves which, in the swimsuit, became pointed breasts and slim waists created by boning, under-wiring and doubled control panels. And since they were cut straight across the top of the leg, they provided that desired modesty panel that covered up the separate matching fabric crotch. It was nearly as confining as the Victorian designs, and perhaps nearly as uncomfortable if nowhere near as dull. Instead of black, there were colorful patterns including glen plaids, dusty batiks, Hawaiian prints, atomic swirls, submarine landscapes, pony prints and zebra stripes. Additionally, swimming caps were decorated with plastic petals and leaves.

The bikini kept its head down during this decade. The 1951 Miss World contest actually banned it. It didn’t disappear, but it shared the stage with the traditional one-piece suit.

Then came the sixties, and revolution wasn’t seen in just the streets. See-through netting on swimsuits shocked many, but the sexual revolution produced not just the infamous topless swimsuit but ever more decreasing variations on the bikini. A 1960 song, “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini,” was a popular number, and Sports Illustrated launched its famous “Swimwear Edition.” Jantzen’s advertising campaign that urged consumers to “Just Wear a Smile and a Jantzen” captivated the country. The Beach Boys and surfing dominated rock charts and beaches. And swimsuits ranging from bikinis to conventional maillots were everywhere. Spandex was a fiber idea for a clingy silhouette, an essential factor in sport swimming, and the “tank” had become the most important suit for serious swimmers. A whole host of various shapes appeared; cutouts, turtlenecks, scooped-out backs and fronts, and crossover monokinis that featured two bands stretched diagonally across the breasts, detouring around the back, and then reappearing at the waist to slip down to the waist—all of them designed to increase speed in the water.

Changes continued throughout the 1970s, 80s, 90s, and into the twenty-first century, but none as dramatic as in earlier times. What I realized in researching and writing this column—as I do with many of them—is how much history is in the little things and how those little things both reflect and impact the larger issues found in history books. What we see here is the circle of work, vacations, clothing, societal values, the role of women, business, entertainment, war, and sexual roles interacting in an organic circle. It’s a fascinating history that may be played out in the swimsuit, but is in truth History with a capital “H.” And if that isn’t at least as important as a bikini-clad Ursula Andress to an impressionable eleven-year-old girl I don’t know what would be.  

Bookmark specifications: Mark your book with this award
Dimensions: 7 1/2" x 2"
Material: Silk
Manufacturer: Jantzen
Date: circa 1925
Acquired: eBay
 

Almost since her childhood days of Mother Goose, Lauren has been giving her opinion on books to anyone who will listen. That “talent” eventually took her out of magazine writing and into book reviewing in 2000 for an online review site where she cut her teeth (as well as a few authors). Stints as book editor for her local newspaper and contributing editor to Booklist and Bookmarks magazines has reinforced her belief that she has interesting things to say about books. Lauren shares her home with several significant others including three cats, nearly 1,300 bookmarks and approximately the same number of books that, whether previously read or not, constitute her to-be-read stack. She is a member of the National Books Critics Circle (NBCC) as well as a longtime book design judge for Publishers Marketing Association’s Benjamin Franklin Awards. Contact Lauren.