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The 20th-century war on women's swimwear

It took many years, and some confidently defiant women, to liberate female beachwear

Picture of Lauren Hansen
by Lauren Hansen
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

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1800s

Artwork, by William Heath, of women swimming at Brighton, England.

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Early 1900s

England

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1901

A turn-of-the-century bathing suit.

Early 1900s

(Glasshouse Images / Alamy Stock Photo)

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1915

Coney Island.

Early 1900s

Annette Kellerman in her one-piece bathing suit.

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1913

A Danish illustration.

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1922

Essex, England.

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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.

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1950

Eastborne, England.

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