Swimwear Exhibition in London

[Bulgerunner]

Has anyone been to the exhibition featured in this BBC article? Looks promising! It's at the Fashion & Textile Museum until 13th September.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-32817686

[Bede735]

Strange title - 'How male and female bathing suits got smaller and smaller.
True for female, but the male got larger again.

[Bulgerunner]

Yes indeed. I have now been to the exhibition and it is fascinating, but it stops around 2007, with a bit about the 2012 Olympics, and doesn't deal with the arrival of board shorts.

Sea bathing was segregated in the 1890s, with the men often swimming naked. Then beaches were integrated but many poorer people couldn't afford the cover-all swimsuits required. It was apparently illegal for men to exhibit their torsos up to the 1930s and all suits were mainly knitted wool, which performs very badly when wet, until the gradual arrival of new yarns.

One panel - sadly without exhibits - celebrates the efforts of Gloria Smythe, designer for Speedo. "for each Olympic Games from 1964 onwards Smythe reduced the amount of fabric used until by 1972 they were down to 1.25cm at the sides."

Worth a visit if you're in London!

[PSDave]

when I was a teen I was invited to a Halloween swim party. Hard to do a costume that was swim worthy. I finally found a pair of 1940's swim trunks in a trunk in the attic. They were cut very similar to the square cut trunks now and quite brief for the surfer mania suits that ruled California beaches. It was navy blue knit with the belt around the waist. The only problem was it was made out of wool. It itched so bad that I was going crazy. Besides the itching, once I had been in the pool the old wet wool smelled like a wet dog. The host (a member of my swim team) took pity on me (and those within nose shot of the wet suit) and loaned me a suit of his. He thought i had worn a speedo under it so was surprised I was having the problem - wish I had! I have no idea how they dealt with the suits that had tops and went to the knees that were made out of wool. Besides the weigh when wet, they had to be hot when in the sun and itch even more.

[Torchwatch]

Those who wore woollen suits itched and sagged, all good for ones character. The wet dog smell comes with attic storage over several decades.
The British Army that brought down Tippu Sultan in the 18th century wore woollen uniforms in India, they sweated, itched and suffered in the heat while the East India Companies Indian Troops wore cotton uniforms and sarongs. There is something to be said for choosing appropriate fabrics for applications.

[sebbie]

About 1954, I was 7 or 8 years old, and I didn't have a swimsuit. My mom, however, had a lot of old clothes she had saved for whatever reason. She dug around and said to me "Why don't you try wearing this?" I immediately got excited when I saw what she had dug out. It was a real swim brief, in retrospect, I think a swim brief that had once been owned and worn by one of her brothers, maybe in the 1930s or perhaps early 1940s. Of course, even then I knew that was where I wanted my body to be.

The swim brief, in retrospect, was most interesting. It was clearly brief-shaped, but we would now say wide, maybe 5-inch sides. The material, however, really predated the smooth nylon or stretch Lycra blend fabrics. The material seemed to me like a heavy wool knit, very scratchy, and without any sort of lining so the scratchy material was right up against my groin and private parts. IIRC It had a little belt at the top, with a small buckle to hold the suit in place, not unlike the belt on the Daniel Craig James Bond suit. Even then, I loved wearing that suit!

[sebbie]

Originally Posted by PSDave

when I was a teen I was invited to a Halloween swim party. Hard to do a costume that was swim worthy. I finally found a pair of 1940's swim trunks in a trunk in the attic. They were cut very similar to the square cut trunks now and quite brief for the surfer mania suits that ruled California beaches. It was navy blue knit with the belt around the waist. The only problem was it was made out of wool. It itched so bad that I was going crazy. Besides the itching, once I had been in the pool the old wet wool smelled like a wet dog. The host (a member of my swim team) took pity on me (and those within nose shot of the wet suit) and loaned me a suit of his. He thought i had worn a speedo under it so was surprised I was having the problem - wish I had! I have no idea how they dealt with the suits that had tops and went to the knees that were made out of wool. Besides the weigh when wet, they had to be hot when in the sun and itch even more.

Heck, maybe your suit was made by the same company as the one I wore as a little kid, above. It sounds the same, basically.

[Mollyk]

When did the guys get to swim without tops?

I must that striped one with the belt is very masculine!!