These images were quite risqué for the time. Bathing suits had evolved from full body armour made out of wool or flannel and only complete with the proper stockings and shoes to this tight, one piece and scandalous bathing suit.
Women in Victorian times would sew small weights into the hems of their dresses to prevent them from floating up and revealing their legs while swimming.
Women and men had traditionally swum separately. Men swam in the nude on their side of the beach. Woman tended to roll 'bathing machines' into the ocean. The small cabanas on wheels were dragged into the ocean by horses. The modest Victorian lady could then change into her bathing costume and wade completely hidden from masculine eyes.
Swimwear fabrics and times changed. By the mid 1920's Vogue wrote ' the newest thing for the sea is a jersey swimsuit as near to a maillot as the unwritten law will permit!'
I want to splish and splash with these bathing beauties. I don't think that I'll trade in my retro bikini though!
