History of Swimwear

On Exhibit at the International Swimming Hall of Fame From Bloomer’s to Bikini’s: How the sport of Swimming Changed Western Culture In the 20th Century From Bloomer’s to Bikini’s: How the lapse, swimming fell out of favor in the the body and led Sport of Swimming Changed Western Christian west. The Popes also railed to a sound night’s Society in the 20th Century, is a multi- against the sexual excesses of the Roman sleep. Because media exhibit that demonstrates how baths and equated both nudity and swim- Franklin, like all swimming acted as the most significant ming with sin. During the Middle Ages male swimmers of cultural force in the women’s rights open air bathing was thought to be a his time, swam in movement of the 20th Century. This cause of the plague. the nude, swim- exhibit demonstrates how the sport of ming was deemed swimming changed the way women Interest in swimming revived somewhat inappropriate for dressed, thought about themselves and during the Age of Exploration when women until, tra- Illustration of an 1860’s women’s the way society thought about women sailors thought it dition has it, one bathing gown. While the gown and their role in society. The exhibit pri- might be a good of Franklin’s female enabled women to bathe, it made swimming impossible. marily focuses on four women swimmers idea to know how admirers threw who broke through the social and moral to swim before herself into the Seine fully dressed. barriers that held women back during the stepping on board While this popularized public bathing for Victorian era: Annette Kellerman, the their ships. But women it did not lead to swimming Australian beauty who was possibly the the interest in because the “Bathing Gowns” that con- most influential female cultural icon of swimming was formed to the “Biblical modesty” were the 20th Century; Charlotte Epstein, a confined to so bulky and heavy that they made swim- New York City court reporter who forced coastal seafaring ming impossible. women’s sports on the American communities and Olympic Committee; Gertrude Ederle, The baths of Carracula in Rome, was exclusively in In the late 1800’s, the Bloomer costume where men and women swam who accomplished the single greatest nude together and brothels the domain of appeared. The bloomer was a more func- athletic feat by a woman and who proved adjoined the pools. males, who swam tional costume, but as the popularity of that women were capable of competing in the nude. By the beginning of the 18th seaside bathing increased, Victorian in strenuous activities equally with men; Century, bathing for therapeutic purpos- moralists saw danger in the attempts to and Donna deVarona, the California girl es became popular with the rich and devise a more practical swimming cos- whose compelling testimony before con- famous at thermal springs and spas tume and the mixing of boys and girls gress lead to the passage of Title IX leg- throughout Europe. But most people still and men and islation, fostering equitable opportunities bathed infrequently and the typical women in the for women in sports, the classroom and "swim" was little more than a brief dip in water. They wor- in the workplace. the water. ried about the dangerous sexual A Brief History of Swimming – From One of the first popularizers of swim- arousal in males Ancient Times to 1904 ming in the 18th Century was Benjamin that might follow Franklin. In fact, swimming was respon- a chance glimpse Swimming was so important in the sible for young Ben’s first inventions, of the female ancient world that both the Greeks and hand paddles and swim fins. In London, form and warned The Bloomer bathing costume, Romans stigmatized people who were in the early 1700’s, Franklin created that mixed bathing circa 1900. uneducated and uncivilized by saying something of a sensation with his swims would undermine the “moral fabric that they could “neither read nor swim.” in the Thames. Later, when serving as of society.” Swimming was the Ambassador enjoyed through- to France during What makes this story relevant today is out the Roman the American that the sermons and speeches of the Empire by both Revolution, Christian moralists of the Victorian era men and women Franklin would (1850 – 1901) sound nearly identical to of all classes and swim before those of today’s modern Islamic funda- when they bathed, going to bed on mentalist clerics. Like in many parts of it was in the nude. hot summer the Islamic world today, Victorian Greek Coin, circa 193 A.D. com- memorating the myth of Hero and After Rome’s col- nights and wrote women had limited legal rights, limited Leander. how this cooled educational and occupational opportuni- 58 ties and no right to vote. Their place was servers were rotten and useless. As the switch to vaudeville. Billed as "The in the home and they were expected to be fire spread toward the stern, the crew Diving Venus," and "The Australian submissive and subservient to their abandoned ship, leaving the women and Mermaid," she performed swimming and fathers and husbands. In matters of children to fend for themselves. Forced diving feats, in a glass tank, dressed in a dress, modesty, not practicality was the to choose between the fire and the water, figure hugging one piece bathing suit, at prime concern. Athletics were considered many jumped into the East River. The the London Hippodrome. She also unfeminine and unhealthy for women end result was that nearly a thousand of invented a new art and when it came to swimming, mixed the passengers, almost all of whom were form - underwater bathing was prohibited and obscenity women and girls, drowned because they ballet, the precursor laws required dark, non-form revealing were unable to swim less than fifty yards of synchronized costumes that covered the body from to shore. Thus began a civil rights move- swimming. head to toe -- restrictions that made ment - the right of self-preservation by learning to swim nearly impossible. knowing how to swim - that would shake In 1907, Annette and the foundations of Western Civilization. her father left What changed our world was a disaster London to seek of catastrophic proportions that triggered Annette Kellerman greater fame and for- a chain of events to move our society You may never have heard of Annette tune in America. Annette Kellerman out of the Victorian era and into the Kellerman. Many New York theater modern times. people haven't, operators, however, were not impressed even though, I and found her swimming costumes Before 1904, most people thought that would argue, she offensive to American moral sensibili- when ships sank, the ability to swim was perhaps the ties. In spite of the General Slocum dis- made little dif- most significant aster little progress had been made in ference as all cultural influence teaching women to swim and Annette on board typi- of the 20th was appalled by the cumbersome dress cally perished. Century. Annette and pantaloon combinations that pre- So it didn’t Kellerman was an vented American women from swim- matter if Australian beauty ming. "I can't swim wearing more stuff women knew who - long before Elle Macpherson - was than you hang on a clothesline," she how to swim. known as “The Perfect Woman.” She was reportedly said before walking on to But in 1904 a a self-promoter who - long before Revere Beach near Boston wearing a one curious set of Madonna - got herself arrested, knowing piece bathing suit that exposed her circumstances the commercial value of sensation. A shapely form and bare legs. It was an act would demon- thespian who - long before Nicole of defiance that resulted in her arrest and strate the utili- Kidman - was a Queen of the Screen. imprisonment for “indecent exposure.” ty of knowing And, a fitness guru who - long before The General Slocum disaster was how to swim Jane Fonda - showed middle-aged When her case came to trial she admitted the subject of a recent book, Ship Ablaze, by Edward O’Donnell. and the differ- women how to keep fit and beautiful. violating the law but asked the judge how ences in the many more women would have to die ability of men and women to survive in Annette Kellerman was born in Sydney, because they didn’t learn to swim? the water. Australia in 1886, the daughter of a “What difference is there from these music professor. She was crippled with legal costumes than wearing led chains It was on June 15th, 1904 that St. Mark’s polio at two and had to wear leg braces around our legs?” She brought to court a Lutheran Church, a German-American until she was seven. Her doctor recom- man’s suit onto which she had sown leg- parish in lower Manhattan, chartered the mended that she take up swimming to gings, making a one piece suit that tech- excursion boat General Slocum for its strengthen her limbs and by the time she nically conformed to the law, which annual church picnic. Because the 15th was 16 held the world record in the 100- required women to be covered from neck was a Wednesday, a work day, few men meters. Then she moved to marathon to toe. The sympathetic judge agreed to and older boys were among the more swimming, setting records in distances drop the charges against her, in return for than 1,400 passengers when the Slocum never before attempted by a woman. To her promise to only wear this swimsuit.

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