SWIMWEAR THROUGH HISTORY

You like minimal bikini? Or maybe you prefer a one-piece swimsuit? Nowadays, you will always find one that suits you with its material, style and character... But was it always like that?

As soon as the warm summer days begin and you start thinking about the holidays and summer vacation in some tropical destinations, the "female fever" also starts - the quest for the ideal bathing suit. If you ever thought that the choice of the models is small, or you felt depressed because you realized that just that "perfect" modern model doesn’t suit you, just think what it would be if there is no choice and you have to wear a long dresses for swimming. Yes, that also existed.

And if you want to know how swimwear changed throughout history, and how women have been adapting to what, at the time, was modern through centuries, read below.

Perhaps current models of swimwear seem inevitable, and some even too complicated to get into at all, but it has been like that throughout the centuries in the whole world: sizes, shapes and forms of the model have been enlarged and diminished, rules and religion sometimes dictate the amount of material, and the impact of culture mix is changing trends – and that’s a constant vicious circle.

Quantity of body nakedness also changed during the centuries, including some records which say that, in ancient Greece and Rome, women bathed completely naked. By the 1670's, all women who were bathing in the public baths and spas could swim completely naked, and after that was made a law that they must be fully clothed, with a precisely defined form of clothes for swimming.

In the 18th century women swimsuits were in the form most closely resembling today's ball gown - closed, with long sleeves, made in several layers and a broad decline, but they had to be made of materials that won’t be transparent when are wet.

Already in the 19th century, fashion and dress codes changed rapidly, and two-piece swimsuit has regular use. However, it is not at all reminiscent of today's two-piece swimsuits, especially because, beside the upper part, which covered the body all the way from the shoulders to knees, a lower part was included too, which is something like today's bottom of the training suits, and it reached down to the ankles.

In the Victorian era, in that time resorts, men and women were separated not to see each other's beach clothes. Especially popular at the time were "bathing machines", that were something like 4-wheel mini-coaches, in which the women entered, changed from everyday clothes into swimsuits, and the whole "machine" entered the sea, while all the time they were “protected” from looks of opposite sex, and therefore could enjoy swimming alone. Unlike women, until the 1860s men were allowed to swim naked.

In contrast to European "conservative" thinking, in the 1880s in the United States, beauty contest in swimsuits have become very popular, and since the first modern competition "Miss America" in 1921, events like this became more appreciated.

In the 20th century begins the real "boom" of swimwear fashion change. In the 1907 Australian swimmer Annette Kellerman was arrested during her visit to America, because her bathing suit was "too" revealing - arms, legs and neck were uncovered. She later marketed her personal line of one-piece swimsuits, though in the '20s her style was considered the most offensive and was also censored. Gradually, swimwear began to "shrink". First they lost their sleeves, the arms were exposed to the sun, and then the leggings shortened to the knee. Then the neckline, that was right below neck, went down to the beginning of the chest line. The development and creation of new materials enabled new variants of more comfortable and practical swimwear.

The first bikini appeared right after the World War II, and the model did not differ much from those in the '20s, except that it had a gap below the lower line of the chest. They were named after the nuclear weapons tests, Bikini Atoll, more precisely by their explosive effects that were left on the viewer.

In fifties, bikini had to cover the navel, while in the '60s bikini was sharply reduced in all directions, and a trend of covering only a part of the chest and nipples, and so-called "bikini zone" started. Also models that reveal less are created then, those who push up breasts, and their popularity does not decline until today. At the same time Rudi Gernreich (in 1964) made first model of monokini swimsuit that covers the lower part of the body just like bikini, and is connected with the upper part with two thin straps that go over the shoulders.

In 1980s, in Brazil was produced the thong bathing suit, inspired by traditional garments of tribes around the Amazon. This trend is expanding at an incredible pace all over the world, and remains very popular, although later created "Brazilians" and one-piece swimsuits, which is considered to be a bit more refined and modest choice, should not be neglected too. Beside those, so-called "topless" is very popular nowadays, which is rapidly moving from nudist beaches to those "ordinary" ones. In some countries, there are alternative ways of thinking and dressing for the beach, so for example, in Thailand, you can often meet someone who bathes in everyday clothes and not in a bathing suit.

Popular models of swimsuits today are the classic one-piece swimsuit, unavoidable bikini (regular and also one with a high waist), tankini - a similar to tank top that covers the stomach and includes panties, monokini - viewed from the back side, looks like the bottom part of a bikini, while it also partially covers the front of the body, and burquini - covers the whole body and head (except the face) and is popular mainly in traditional Islamic countries.

Some of the most popular swimwear brands as Victoria's Secret, Speedo International Limited, Wicked Weasel, L Space, Roxy, Rip Curl, Nautica, Beachbunny Swimwear and many more.

When you’re choosing a swimsuit, it is important to keep in mind one thing - the most important is to feel good in it. If you follow this advice, we are sure you will be shining this summer...

J.M.

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