Diary

Before the swimsuit, there was...swimming in its simplest form! Yes, long ago, men and women swam naked in same-sex public bathhouses. In fact, it was several centuries before bathing became a leisure activity, followed by the introduction of the first bathing suit. Long before the bikini came into fashion, the swimsuit resembled a puffy pantsuit cinched at the waist -- conforming to the cultural norms of the day.  Most importantly, swimsuits were forbidden to reveal the feminine silhouette, and were never allowed to publicly expose any hint of skin to male onlookers ... nor to the sun rays. In the 19th century, to accommodate these norms, women were forced to bathe in particularly uncomfortable outfits. By default or design, these suits lacked serious function -- relegating women to standing or milling about in the water.  During this period, swimming was considered a relaxation activity rather than a sport.

Annette Kellerman, pioneer

Everything changed at the beginning of the 19th century, though, thanks to Australian swimmer and pioneer, Annette Kellerman. Restricted in her movement by these cumbersome bathing costumes, in 1907, the young trailblazer developed a form-fitting wetsuit to allow for greater efficiency in movement and speed. When she dared to cut the legs off her suit -- revealing her thighs, scandal erupted. Annette Kellerman was promptly prosecuted for "indecency."  And so it goes, the revolution had begun, and the precursor to the one-piece swimsuit was born!

The 30s and 40s: the swimsuit gets shorter centimeter by centimeter.

 In the 1920s, swimsuit designs offered the first glimpse of women's arms and thighs. But woe to those who dared to push beyond fashion limits, they might find themselves banished from bathing facilities by beach police. As time marched on, and vacationing became more prevalent thanks to the introduction of paid holidays, the swimsuit continued to undergo evolutionary (and revolutionary!) change. Women began to assert their place in society, and the swimsuit became one of the vehicles contributing to their liberation. Centimeter by centimeter, the swimsuit became even more revealing, and was trending toward stretchy fabrics that accented the feminine silhouette and offered ease-of-movement.

The itsy, bitsy, teeny, weenie bikini that freed women

It was in 1946 that the bikini made its dramatic appearance. Created by Louis Réard, this two-piece swimsuit, appropriately named after Bikini Atoll, the site of first H-bomb test in the Pacific Ocean, exploded onto the fashion scene.  At the time, Louis Réard found it difficult to find a model who would dare to wear his latest design and, eventually, turned to Micheline Bernardini, a nude dancer. In the aftermath of the Second World War, this swimsuit that revealed the hips and navel, caused quite the scandal!  While actresses like Ava Gardner and Brigitte Bardot bolstered its popularity, for many years, the acceptability of the bikini vacillated between scandal and allure --and was even banned on certain beaches until the end of the 60s. It was around this time that everything changed. With sexual freedom and the legalization of the birth control pill, women increasingly wanted to be free from rules imposed by society and men. Married and single women, alike, with or without children, all embraced the bikini and all it represented.