The 20th-century war on women's swimwear
It took many years, and some confidently defiant women, to liberate female beachwear
by The Week team
May 29, 2017
1888
French bathing costumes.
1878
(Amoret Tanner / Alamy Stock Photo)In the 19th century, modesty was the driving trend in female fashion. Clothing was meant to cover the threatening curves of the female form: Necklines were
1800s
Artwork, by William Heath, of women swimming at Brighton, England.
Early 1900s
England
1901
A turn-of-the-century bathing suit.
Early 1900s
(Glasshouse Images / Alamy Stock Photo)
1915
Coney Island.
Early 1900s
Annette Kellerman in her one-piece bathing suit.
1913
A Danish illustration.
1922
Essex, England.
1922
A bathing beach "cop" measures the distance between a woman's knee and the bottom of her suit in Washington, D.C.
1935
Palm Beach, Florida.
1950
Eastborne, England.
