Hello Angels,

History is truly fascinating. When you study it, even unrelated things are connected. For example fashion. Fashion seems totally different from technology and other things but when you study history of fashion, you see that conditions of that century also shape the fashion.

As the summer begins, people everywhere started to go to beach or poolside. Especially recent years, there are plenty of swimsuit desings in different types of materials. Have you ever wondered swimsuit which was only for activities such as swimming or bathing became a part of fashion trend?

In today’s post, I would like to share how it evolved through time and across continents.

In the 18th century women were wearing linen shirts as ‘swimsuit’. After wool and cotton ‘sswimsuits’ followed but they were not practical because they were becoming heavy when met.

The swimsuits were covering all the body so having a sun tan wasn’t an option. It wasn’t fashionable at all in those years because it made you look like a lower class.

In the 19th century, women were wearing bathing gown which was loose ankle lenght full sleeve chemise. It was modest so it was ok to wear when swimming.

In the twentieth century, swimwear underwent transformation with Australian Olympic swimmer Annette Kellerman. Women were permitted to compete in swimming for the first time at the 1912. Kellerman was known as ‘the Australian Mermaid’ because of her succesful swimming. She swam the English Channel.

Kellerman can be credited for transforming social attituted of women in 20 th Century. She wore fitting ıne piece bathing suit during swimming. Her swimsuit known as’ the Anette Kellerman’

Swimwear was a major problem because of the public nudity. That’s why swimwear entered to fashion world late.

Swimsuits were problem even for a men. Their swimsuits were also covered the from the hips to shoulder. It continued until thw 1940s.

The first swimsuits were designed in 1920s. People began to go to spas and bathouseand funtional swimsuit became a priority. Swimsuits manufactured by rayon fabric but its durability became a problem.

With the development of new materials, fabrics such as nulon and latex, swimsuits deisgn started to change and they became more functional.

During World War II , it required huge amount of leather, silk, cotton and nylon. That’s why fabic shortage started and two piece suits with bare midriffs invented.

Designers such as Andre Courreges, Calvin Klein and Giorgio Armani started to experiment with swimwear. They started to sell ready to swimwear in the 1960s.

Since 21th century,swimwear trends from the twentietg century are being popular time to time due to the cyclical nature of fashion. Such as one pieces and high cut swimwear.

Today, swimwear is more than a functional garment but it is also fashionable.

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