Swimming Retro

I’m currently somewhat obsessed with the swimwear of years gone by, so prepare yourselves for a short history lesson on the advance of swimwear throughout the decades. 

The start of the 20^th century saw the introduction of what we’d call conventional swimwear, liberating women from the long skirts that was the trademark of the 19^th century.  In the 1930’s swimwear took on a new, sexier form, leaving the formless modesty of the 1920’s behind and introducing sexy backless one-pieces with higher cut legs. 

The hourglass look became popular in the 1950’s and with this trend came a need for more advanced shaping and support in swimwear. The 1950’s also saw an increase in the popularity of short hairstyles which in its turn led to decorative swim caps becoming a hot trend. During this time bikinis were scarce and those women that were brave enough to wear a bikini made sure their bikini’s bottom came up to their belly buttons. In the late 1960’s the popularity of bikinis grew and with the size of swimsuits shrank, burying the sexy yet modest 1950’s one-piece that I so love.  

The pictures shown are Catalina and Jantzen swimwear ads, both really popular swimwear brands in the 1950’s.