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The Evolution of women's swimwear
Swimwear has many different connected names. It is also known as swimsuit, swimming costume, cozzie, and bathing suit. This piece of garment is particularly created for swimming. They can be fitted tight or loose and are usually made to cover up the woman or man's private parts.
Historically speaking, women's swimwear began a long time ago. Wall paintings at the ancient Roman city of Pompeii depict women wearing two-piece swimwear which resembles that of a modern day bikini. Until then, no such records were found for centuries about bathing suits. It was however in the early 1800s that the use of a fitting swimwear became practical. The need for a specialized piece of swim clothing became more and more convenient because the public started to gather around seaside beaches for recreation. During that time, the type of swim suits women wore was the so-called "bathing gowns" because it looks like a gown. For that period of time, it was also very fashionable to wear the bathing gowns because it was regarded appropriate to keep the women's skin white and intact from the sun. This kind of swimwear was characterized by its long clothing of fabrics with face-shading bonnets, shawls and a pair of gloves. This will ensure that the suit would not be transparent when wet. In order for the swimwear not to rise up when dipped into the water, its weights were stitched into the dress' hem lines. The sewing of the weights was also done to avoid the showing of the women's legs.
Also at some point in 1810, the French seaside walking gown was introduced. It is distinguished by its white cambric, pale pink muslin, long sleeves, cuffs, trousers, short scarf, silk tassels, a pair of pale buff kid gloves, and sandals.
In 1910, swimwear was revolutionized to allow more revelation of the women's body contour. It trimmed down the yards of fabric used and the bloomers were shortened to allow the sun's contact to the skin. At the same time in 1915, women were allowed to play the swimming sports that only men may engage in. As a result, this lessens the amount of heavy clothing used in the woman's swimwear. During the early 1920s, women's swimwear was cut down to a one-piece garment although leg stockings were still worn. Subsequently, bathing suits became bolder as they revealed more women's flesh. As a result, less conservative swim wears were introduced. It was differentiated by revealing the arms and the legs up to mid-thigh. Traditional bathing suit collars were taken away, exposing the women's neck.
Between the 1940s and the 1950s (with the initiation of Sports Illustrated Magazine) swimwear photography became the newest trend in the photo industry. This made swim wears a household name.
During the Second World War, a new kind of swimwear was introduced; the modern bikini. It is a two separate bathing suit used to cover the woman's breasts and the groin and buttocks but exposing the navel part of the body. The first bikinis were very similar to that of the 1920 two piece swim suits but it had an opening below the breast region. It was created in 1946 by Louis Reard, a French engineer, in his hometown in Paris. He named it in honor of the Bikini Atoll, a small island in the Pacific Ocean and used to be the test site of the United States' nuclear weapons. However, bikinis were first discovered in Greece (through its ancient paintings and prehistoric urns) as early as 1400 BC.
After that (starting in the 1960), the bikini evolved into many different forms sometimes covering only the women's nipples and genitalia. Rudi Gernreich, a fashion designer, created the monokini a special kind of topless swimwear with two thin straps. This bathing suit showed the way for a new swimwear designs. Brazil then manufactured its own version of swim suits in the 1980s; the tanga or popularly called as the thong. The idea of the thong came from Brazil's native Amazonian tribes. This one-piece swimwear became popular in the United States.
At present, women's swim wears normally has three kinds - the one-piece, the two-piece top, and the two-piece pant.
The one-piece bathing suit has different styles which include the surplice, classic tank, blouson, empire waist, bandeau, princess seam, maillot (the cut-out version of the monokini which has its halternecked and one-shouldered design), square neck, high neck, tank, jogger, pretzel suit, swim dress, boy legs (a short shorts), tunic, plunge front, sheath, halter-neck, lingerie tank, monokini, and the skater skirt.
On the other hand, the two-piece top has the broken underwire, halter
bikini, triangle, tankini (the sporty edition of bikini), sport bra, bandini (a bandeau-type bikini with straight and striplike cloth), sling bikini, molded bra, camikini (also known as the cami tankini because it looks like a tankini but its top resembles a camisole), ballet bra, and the underwire.
Meanwhile the two-piece pant swimwear includes the Brazilian pant (Rio), clean high waist (it covers the navel and gives full stomach support), hipster, hot pant (appends more curved look to the body), lap-over V front, sarong pant, scoop pant (this suit stretches the torso), shirred high waist, skater skirt (bares the outer thigh while covering the hips), tab-side, tap pant, thong (also known as the G-string or T-back), tie side, and the V-scoop.
Some of the world's biggest swimsuit brands include Calvin Klein, Speedo, Jockey, Ralph Lauren, Newport News, Tyr, Freya, and Moving Comfort.
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