5 Fun Facts About Swimsuits Through History

Men in bathing costumes

For as long as humankind has walked the Earth, we’ve also wanted to jump into the water. The invention of the bathing suit as a tasteful, stylish outfit specifically for water-based leisure may go as far back as ancient Rome. The history of swimwear is a history of not only sports and fun, but also modesty and fashion. Here are a few interesting landmarks in beachwear through the years.

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Before Bathing Suits, There Were Bathing Dresses

At the start of the 20th century, women in the U.S. and Western Europe were expected to wear what were known as “bathing dresses.” These were thick and colorful knee-length garments made of wool, designed to be worn on visits to the seaside. Given the strict nature of fashion at this time, it wasn’t uncommon for a woman to wear a bathing corset, too, as well as bloomers under their bathing dress. Despite the name, neither of these articles of clothing was meant for bathing, let alone swimming: They were too heavy and restrictive, not to mention itchy and pungent. Rather, they were decorative items of clothing designed for sea-adjacent leisure and outdoor activities that required as little movement as possible.

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The Modern Bikini Was Invented by an Auto Engineer

The string bikini as we know it was invented in 1946 by French automotive engineer-turned fashion designer Louis Réard. The design featured four triangles of fabric — two for the bottom, two for the top — and spaghetti straps. Expecting an explosive reaction to his daring design, Réard named the suit for Bikini Atoll in the Pacific islands, where the U.S. conducted atomic bomb testing starting in the mid-1940s. A nude dancer from the Casino de Paris named Micheline Bernardini first modeled the provocative swimwear, in part because no runway model could be convinced to pose in something so revealing. Within the decade that followed, however, the bikini became ubiquitous, thanks in part to Hollywood stars such as Brigitte Bardot and Marilyn Monroe popularizing the style, as well as the rapidly changing social norms in the post-World War II era.

The Two-Piece Swimsuit Dates Back to Ancient Rome

Though the modern bikini didn’t come along until the 20th century, the two-piece swimsuit dates back as far as ancient Rome. An ancient mosaic found on the walls of a Sicilian villa depicts images of women now known as the “Bikini Girls.” The figures are shown dancing, running, and playing in almost contemporary-looking beachwear. Historians remain unsure if such suits were worn for water-based activities or if they were standard exercise outfits during the warm Sicilian summers. Regardless, the women depicted appear to be moving freely, suggesting that these early suits were worn as activewear.

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The First Iconic Suit Was a Red Wool One-Piece

There are a number of iconic bathing suits that are now canonical bits of popular culture — think Farrah Fawcett’s red one-piece or Ursula Andress’ white bikini in the first James Bond film, Dr. No. But the original brand-recognizable bathing suit was the Jantzen Knitting Mills’ “Red Diving Girl,” introduced in 1920. Though not as famous as, say, the Morton Salt Girl in her yellow raincoat or the bonnet-donning Sun-Maid Girl, the Jantzen diving girl image — a woman diving into water in a red wool one-piece — popularized the bathing suit as less high fashion and more everyday function. Her diving posture suggested an ease of movement and flexibility; Jantzen debuted bathing suits featuring an “elastic stitch” that granted the wearer comfort in the heavy wool.

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Men Also Used to Wear One-Piece “Swimming Costumes”

Though the shirtless beach look is now standard for many men, being topless in public — for anyone of any gender — was considered controversial in many U.S. cities and states during the first half of the 20th century, and was even illegal in many parts of the country. In 1935, police arrested and fined 42 men who swam topless in Atlantic City, New Jersey, where “bareback swimming,” as it was known, was forbidden. There had been plenty of individual dalliances with shirtless swimming before, but this group arrest was intended as a protest against the restrictive rules. The law was overturned in New Jersey in 1937, and other states followed suit. Eventually men were free to abandon the one-piece “swimming costumes” they used to wear for the modern trunks we see today.