Swimming in Wool?

 __By Tiffany Amber Stockton__

In July, I shared about a 150+ year-old piece of wedding cake in the Library of Congress. Since it's still summer, and folks are out at the beach, or the lake, or even running through sprinklers and swimming in back yard pools, I'm highlighting swimwear fashions this month.

Would You Swim in Wool?

Humans have almost always loved the water, but jumping in with style took some time to figure out. :) In fact, swimwear actually dates back to ancient Rome. Isn't that crazy? The history of swimsuits is all about changing fashions and shifting ideas of modesty.

Before bathing suits, folks wore bathing dresses. These knee-length, wool garments were more about looking proper than actually swimming. They even included corsets and bloomers! Umm...no thank you! Then again, these costumes weren't really for taking a dip in the ocean. They were designed for strolling by the sea. They were heavy, itchy, and far from practical.

The first iconic swimsuit was a red wool one-piece. Before Farrah Fawcett’s red swimsuit there was the Jantzen “Red Diving Girl” one-piece. Introduced in 1920 by Jantzen Knitting Mills, this wool suit was a game-changer. The diving girl logo, featuring a woman in a red suit mid-dive, made swimwear feel more functional than fashionable.

Have you ever seen the movie, Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken? It's all about Sonora Carver and diving girls on horseback. I even gave a brief nod to Doc Carver's traveling show in my story for Blue Ribbon Brides. The elastic stitch in the suits the girls wore made it comfy, even in thick wool, and started a swimwear trend that has now lasted more than a century.

However, two-piece swimsuits actually date back to ancient Rome. In Sicily, a mosaic featuring "Bikini Girls" was discovered. These women, dressed in what looks like modern two-piece swimsuits, are shown dancing, running, and playing. I don't know if they swam in these outfits or used them as workout gear, but they certainly showed a lot of skin for those times.

Speaking of two-pieces, did you know the modern bikini was the brainchild of an automotive engineer? Louis Réard, a French engineer turned fashion designer, created a daring two-piece suit with just four triangles of fabric in 1946. Four triangles?! Without a doubt, a conversation piece, and likely the cause of many scandals. At first, only a nude dancer was brave enough to model it, but within a decade, stars like Brigitte Bardot and Marilyn Monroe made the bikini an everyday staple, thanks to changing social norms after World War II.

Finally, let's not forget about men's swimwear. Today, men’s swim trunks as solo bottoms are the norm, but back in the early 20th century, it was all about one-piece swimming costumes. Going shirtless at the beach was quite controversial, and it was even illegal in some places. In 1935, 42 men in Atlantic City were arrested for swimming without shirts as part of a protest. To be honest, there are some men who shouldn't go shirtless, but that's a whole other story. :) By 1937, the laws started to change, and men ditched the one-piece suits for the types of swim trunks we see everywhere.

NOW IT'S YOUR TURN:

* What kind of bathing swimwear do you don when you enter the water?

* Have you ever gone swimming in your regular clothing? What about in *less* than that? :)

* Are you unfazed by the current swimwear fashions, or would you rather see more modest wear?

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Come back on the 9th of each month for my next foray into historical tidbits to share.

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BIO

Tiffany Amber Stockton has embellished stories since childhood, thanks to a very active imagination and notations of talking entirely too much. Honing those skills led her to careers as an award-winning, best-selling author and speaker, while also working as a professional copywriter/copyeditor. She loves to share life-changing products and ideas with others to help improve their lives in a variety of ways, but especially from the inside out.

Currently, she lives with her husband and fellow author, Stuart Vaughn Stockton, along with their two children, one dog, and three cats in southeastern Kentucky. In her 20+ years as a professional writer, she has sold twenty-six (26) books so far and has agent representation with Tamela Murray of the Steve Laube Agency. You can find her on Facebook and GoodReads.