Along with the increased popularity of swimming and the appearance of
the knitted swimming suit we note the rapid development of the
ready-to-wear swim suit industry. During the last half of the 19th
century women frequently made their own bathing dresses with the aid of
paper pattern supplements that appeared in women's magazines of the
period. Dressmakers also may have used these patterns to outfit their
clients for their summer excursions. On the other hand, ladies in the
large cities could purchase bathing dresses at furnishing stores or rent
them at the large public beaches. A small advertisement in _Harper's
Bazar_, August 9, 1873, announced that in addition to gauze undershirts,
linen drawers, collars and cuffs, Union Adams & Co. of New York had
bathing dresses for sale. The notice is noteworthy when one considers
that the ready-to-wear clothing industry and the field of advertising
were in their infancy.
With the increased popularity of the knitted suit, knitting mills
included men's and women's swimming apparel in their more prosaic lines
of underwear and sweaters. Many companies advertised the new product,
steadily increasing their range until the inevitable occurred. In 1921 a
national advertising campaign for swimming suits was initiated by
Jantzen, a hitherto obscure knitting mill whose production had been
limited to sweaters, woolen hosiery, and jackets for Chinese workmen.
Capitalizing on the growing interest in swimming, Jantzen prominently
advertised swimming suits instead of bathing dresses. The retail stores
selling these suits advertised locally, but national advertising became
the domain of the manufacturers, educating the public to associate
certain positive qualities with their names.
To the delight of the swim suit industry, swimming was more than a
passing vogue. In 1934, a National Recreation Association study on the
use of leisure time found that among ninety-four free-time activities
swimming was second only to movies in popularity.[66] Although the
number of swimmers was increasing, competition caused the swim suit
industry to take a new approach. Manufacturers attempted to increase the
volume of sales through advertising by emphasizing style. In 1927 one
company advertised a national appeal to woman's vanity by declaring that
beach _uniforms_ were out and that beach _styles_ were in.
[66] _The Leisure Hours of 5,000 People; a Report of a Study of
Leisure Time Activities and Desires_ (New York, National
Recreation Assoc., 1934).
It was a general characteristic of the 1930s that swimming suits covered
less of the bather. The attached trunks of the swimming suit no longer
extended down the leg but it survived unseen beneath the vestigial
remains of a skirt.
The diminishing coverage of the swim suit was also related to a changing
attitude toward sun exposure. For years women had protected their
delicate skin to prevent any unladylike, healthy appearance. The barrier
against a lady having a tan deteriorated as women became accepted into
athletic activities. By 1930, women eagerly sought a sun tan. Not only
were there lotions to help the neophyte sun-worshiper acquire a rich
even tan, but creams were available for the impatient who wished an
instant tan. In line with this trend, swim suit manufacturers and
sellers promoted and sold low sun-back or California styles, halter
necks, and cut-out sections that exposed various portions of the
midriff. The favorite suit, however, was the form-fitting maillot of
wool jersey with no skirt.
In the early 1930s, the textile trade journals applauded the increasing
stress on styling as a means of encouraging the consumer to buy a new
suit rather than to use "last year's." Stylishness was introduced into
knitted suits through the use of a greater range of solid colors.
Parti-colored suits, with stripes and slashes of a second or even a
third color, were also featured (fig. 18). Knitting mills were pressed
to introduce novelty effects such as mesh, waffle motifs, and lace
patterns in knitted fabrics.
[Illustration: Figure 18. ONE-PIECE SWIMMING SUITS OF KNITTED WOOL,
1930. (_Courtesy of Cole of California._)]
The insistent emphasis on novelty encouraged the development of such
items as all-rubber swimming suits with embossed surfaces simulating
knitted textiles. Although this innovation was not successful, because
the suits were clammy and easily torn, rubber did find a definite use in
swimming suits with the introduction of Lastex--a yarn made with a core
of rubber wrapped by a fine thread of another fiber. The following
advertisement for swimming suits made with Lastex best explains why this
important innovation is still valued by the industry today:
There's no wrinkle, no bag, no sag, even under the most ruthless
sun! No other human device can even approximate that utter
freedom, that perfection of fit, at rest or in motion, that airy
but strictly legal sense of wearing nothing at all. There is no
substitute for this elastic yarn, which imparts lasting
elasticity to any fabric.[67]
[67] _Harper's Bazaar_ (June 1934), 68th year, no. 2660, p. 9.
Having exhausted the novelty effects of knitted swim suits, women in the
late 1930s began to respond eagerly to the wide range of decorative
possibilities found in woven fabrics. Cotton and the relatively new
man-made fibers such as Celanese acetate and Dupont rayon were used in
fabrics such as ginghams, chambrays, piques, and featherweight elastic
satins. To the pleasure of the fashion editors, who claimed to be
anxious for some relief from the nudity of the maillot, suits of woven
fabrics were made with flared skirts. These had knitted linings of
cotton, acetate, or wool which satisfied any taste as to warmth or
coolness on the beach. The belief was prevalent that a wool swimming
suit was needed for warmth. In the 1940s the two-piece, bare-midriff
suit with tight shorts or flared skirt was a popular and logical
development from the earlier suits with cut-out sections around the
midriff. The more extreme French bikini, however, was not adopted by
American women when it was first introduced in the 1940s.
By the end of the forties the one-piece swimming suit staged a comeback
with a slight variation: the new suits were structurally sculptured to
mold, control, and stay put while swimming or sunning. They were the
product of ingenious engineering, inside and out. The use of shirring
and skillful cutting and handling of fabric focused attention on the
bust line, while the frequent use of Lastex tended to streamline the
hips like a girdle. Inside, the careful use of wire and plastic boning
permitted many of these suits to assume a shape of their own and even to
be worn without straps.
A short-lived revival of the covered-up look appeared in the fashion
pages in 1954 but, unlike the suits with covered arms and neck of the
previous century, these suits drew attention to the parts of the body
that were covered. The fate of this unsuccessful novelty is a good
illustration of the fact that, ultimately, the buyer has the final word
in the volatile field of feminine fashion. The swim suit manufacturers
apparently misinterpreted the American woman's readiness to discard the
more revealing two-piece suit in favor of an altered form of the
maillot. Always ready with novelties to make last year's suit obsolete,
the manufacturers tried to encourage women into a more extreme
covered-up look. Despite the power of national advertising women were
unwilling to go back in time. The female beach-goer and sun-worshiper
opposed a suit that might interfere with the tanning process.
By 1960, the production of swim suits had become a big business with
mass distribution and mass markets. Expanded world-wide transportation
facilities and increased leisure and affluence in the United States
created a demand for midwinter vacation clothing for use in warmer
climates, and the manufacturing of swim suits became a year-round
undertaking, producing 14,728 million knitted and woven suits in
women's, misses, and junior sizes in 1960.[68]
[68] Compiled from "Production of Selected Items of Knit Outerwear and
Swimwear; 1960-1961," _Apparel Survey 1961_ (1962), series
M23A(61)-2, p. 14.