A short history of the swimsuit

What if we looked a little in the fashion rearview mirror?

How did we come to be able to wear bath pieces, indented swimsuits, or ultra-glamorous bikinis?

Today the beach or the edge of a swimming pool, become fashion spaces where everyone can wear a swimsuit with various shapes, shimmering colors ... And the icing on the cake, which fits us like a glove ! Because nowadays the offer is huge, and you already have a very nice glimpse with the chic and ethical models of Luz !

Around the 1850s, going to the seaside was a goal of relaxation with the family ! We went there to breathe the good spray, to walk with our feet in the water up to our ankles, the only part of the body that was bare...    

A decade later, what could be called the ancestor of the swimsuit appears... The zeitgeist was white-skinned and a very covered  body, so the bathing outfit consisted of trousers tightened at the knees. A short sleeve shirt vareuse style served as the top of the jersey. It was important not to forget the swimming cap! 

Everything began to change at the beginning of the ^20th century through sport. Indeed the swimming champion Annette Kellerman wears the first tight jersey: a piece quite close to the body, arms and bare legs. This caused an uproar...  

Yet this episode accused of insulting morality was the beginning for a sharp research in terms of quality necessary for a good " penetration " into the water.  In 1920 Mr. Jantzen will develop a very elastic mesh ideal for aquatic clothing. Very adjusted to the body, the jersey then became like a second water not hindering the movements at all.

We were then entering a new era on the beaches ! Galvanized by the paid holidays just put in place, the French are starting to invest the coastal space, and enjoy sea bathing in outfits very similar to ours at the moment. 

Last step, the birth of the famous bikini... Named after a Pacific island where a nuclear test took place, the Frenchman Louis Réard launches his Bikini and with him, the fashion of catchy slogans " First Anatomical Bomb" ! That said, the jersey was not yet democratized financially, because the first two-piece  remained excessively expensive.

Little by little, after the prohibitions to wear it on certain beaches, the seventies atmosphere made it possible to free the woman a little more in her emancipation, and wearing the bikini even became a militant act! Imagine that today, walking around with a two-piece jersey like the vintage Lou model, makes you an insurgent !

The emergence among women of the idea of arranging their body as they see fit, supported by some proud and sculptural starlets like Brigitte Bardot posing on La Croisette, the bikini now becomes natural and normal on all the pages, swimming pools, aquatic spaces of the world !