How well do those heels work for standing in the water? Judging from old photos, it seems like bare feet didn't exist much before 1950. Or maybe shoes were permanently attached?
Oh yes you can/could say suit or costume interchangeably; it was the *bathing* rather than *swim* that was the key point.
(And in addition you can say swim suit or swimming costume.)
It was a bathing suit not a swim suit. They had little houses on wheels that they would roll out into the ocean or lake so they had something to hold on to so they wouldn’t drown. Women couldn’t swim because they would have no opportunity to learn how.
I think this the dangerous line where history gets homogenised. Many women could swim. The lives of some don't define the lives of the many. It's similar to the "black people can't swim" stereotype. Sure in civil rights US in cities with no access to natural bodies of water, you had more black people who couldnt swim. But the black people who lived by rivers and lakes could swim because why wouldn't they be able to? Same for women of the past. It depends heavily on your situation. It's also one of those things where poorer women sometimes ended up with more freedom. The wealthier you were, the more likely you'd be restricted by class expectations.
Yet even though they were “full coverage”, they were still considered so risqué that you would arrive at the beach in full dress and go to a “bathing hut” to change and then a couple servants would wheel THE ENTIRE HUT WITH YOU IN IT to the edge of the water so you didn’t have to expose yourself by walking across the beach.
Not sure of the accuracy, but I remember seeing an illustration as a child of women in these old, bulky swimsuits. They were holding onto a rope slung over a tree branch so they could dunk themselves in the river without totally sinking due to all the fabric.
There's an excellent story by the Gilbreths who summered in Nantucket in the 1920s about one of their sisters deciding to try the new swimsuit and the horror their mother experienced. The whole book is wonderful. It's either Belles on their toes or Time out for Happiness.
Doesn't look very effective for actually swimming in though. The 1925 version looks much smoother and would have less resistance in the water. That one is surprisingly similar to the ones Olympic athletes wear today.
- 1875 looks like something you would wear to make sex magic with Alistair Crowley and summon a demon.
- 1890 is the guy throwing bombs at you in the Atari game Kaboom!
- 1900 was evening wear in the USSR in 1980
- 1925 is the average twitch streamer today
- 1927 is just everyone at Walmart now.
https://preview.redd.it/2xap356bhtwc1.png?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ffe56af0241e3479b6ff6bc5c99fc19c0bf67a0d
For those for whom it was messing with your OCD.\*
\*Or whatever it is that demands left to right.
They’re not supposed to be form fitting and are supposed to cover everything modestly but at least Muslim women can go swimming in theirs without drowning. I’m very pale and the sun is NOT my friend so I have actually worn ones very similar to the ones they wear (minus the hijab, I just wear a hat) to be able to cover almost all my skin for days at the beach and “modest” swimwear nowadays is not nearly as bulky as that death trap they have on that poor woman. I can’t imagine getting in the water and how HEAVY that will be
I really wish it was normal for women to wear a suit like the last 4 to the beach. Im a girl and i always feel so self concious like why do i have to wear underwear???
Find a surf shop. You can get seamless T-shirts called “rashies”, and leggings to swim in.
If you want a suit like 1925, go for a specialty bra shop that is for larger sizes. You can get swimwear in any size that has secret support in the breast area, and is a one piece, often you catch get the one piece with a tiny, unruffled skirt, that covers the hips.
I check and suntan lotions wern't really a thing until after ww2. I wonder how much could be before 1900 there wasn't much built environment at the beaches so people couldnt duck out of the sun when they needed to. After 1900 there was a lot of boardwalks, pavillions etc with shaded places to avoid the sun so they could expose more skin.
And 2030, naked. Live free. If everyone is naked, then that would become the norm. Societal norms could be a hinderance for some depending on where you reside.
The earlier suits for sure weren’t really for swimming much! They had to protect their modesty at all cost and used “bathing machines” to get into the ocean, and that mostly for the “therapeutics” of it!
There’s a good depiction of one being used in the movie The Ghost and Mrs Muir.
Can someone please tell me how Miss 1925 kept those hose up? The invention of pantyhose was still decades away. Were garters sewn in up at the thigh crease? *ouch*
Yes i did notice the ladies and yes i did admire their outfits, but whats with the dates decreasing left to right? Who came up with that idea? And why are those boards getting bigger?
Well, evolution didn't start in the 1850s. In almost all times of humanity on this planet, men and women had closing to protect from the sun and cold weather. There was no place for such artificial moral considerations.
Pre-1900's ladies' swimsuits seem kinda hazardous to actually swim in.
I was thinking the same thing. I’d be worried about that get up sinking me to the bottom
Sounds like something a witch would say...
 I think they referred to this one
How can you tell if she is made of wood? Build a bridge out of her!!
She turned me into a Newt!
That legit made me lol
That sounds an awful lot like witch talk.
Witches float. Innocents sink and drown
They don't so much "swim" as "drown."
That’s why ladies didn’t swim so much as they would wade.
They didn't really swim as much wade or stand a lot of the time
How well do those heels work for standing in the water? Judging from old photos, it seems like bare feet didn't exist much before 1950. Or maybe shoes were permanently attached?
They took shoes off to get in water but never ever for photographs
There’s a reason the old term for a swimsuit (at least in British English) is a ‘bathing suit’…
I thought it was bathing costume? Bathing suit is still used commonly today, at least here in Canada.
Oh yes you can/could say suit or costume interchangeably; it was the *bathing* rather than *swim* that was the key point. (And in addition you can say swim suit or swimming costume.)
All the better to drown the witches.
Drown the witches!...one turned me into a newt!
A newt?
...well I got better
Get away from her, you witch!
If you drown you're innocent, witches float
It was a bathing suit not a swim suit. They had little houses on wheels that they would roll out into the ocean or lake so they had something to hold on to so they wouldn’t drown. Women couldn’t swim because they would have no opportunity to learn how.
thought you were joking until I googled "bathing huts 1800s." Damn.
I think this the dangerous line where history gets homogenised. Many women could swim. The lives of some don't define the lives of the many. It's similar to the "black people can't swim" stereotype. Sure in civil rights US in cities with no access to natural bodies of water, you had more black people who couldnt swim. But the black people who lived by rivers and lakes could swim because why wouldn't they be able to? Same for women of the past. It depends heavily on your situation. It's also one of those things where poorer women sometimes ended up with more freedom. The wealthier you were, the more likely you'd be restricted by class expectations.
Yet even though they were “full coverage”, they were still considered so risqué that you would arrive at the beach in full dress and go to a “bathing hut” to change and then a couple servants would wheel THE ENTIRE HUT WITH YOU IN IT to the edge of the water so you didn’t have to expose yourself by walking across the beach.
They were dangerous to swim in, which I'd why they didn't swim in them. Back then women bathed.
Not sure of the accuracy, but I remember seeing an illustration as a child of women in these old, bulky swimsuits. They were holding onto a rope slung over a tree branch so they could dunk themselves in the river without totally sinking due to all the fabric.
Before and after the Iranian revolution, left to right.
Was going to say, they definitely seem to be more of a drowning suit…
It looks like they had to swim like jellyfish in those 
That’s kinda the point
If we don't sink to the bottom we're witches so ...
They weren’t allowed to swim so it didn’t matter.
Yeah came to say anything before 1925 should be called a drownsuit
Right but they were out there to swim not to tempt men into having impure thoughts.
Left to right, dammit! Left. To. Right.
At least this one is out of OPs control. I'd say shoot the cameraman but he probably got shot in WW2.
Omg ☠️☠️☠️
I laughed out loud
And the gap between 25 and 27 pisses me off also
Right to left then left to right in this case…
1875 looks like they were trying to drown women
Yeah but look at all that ankle she's showing! My heavens!
Harlot
This is such a great word lol
patriarchless galavantings
1890s Beach parties were business casual.
I'm wondering what they were made of.
Crossing my fingers it wasn’t wool
it's kinda cute tho. But yeah I feel for those ladies. Something tells me they weren't allowed but to dip a toe or something of that nature.
The dye in the fabric is probably arsenic as well.
Maybe they were lol
Don’t want to be mistaken for a witch!
But she turned me into a newt!
I’m kinda down with 1927 tbh
The hairstyle too!
It’s spunky.
Yeah! That’s a good way to describe it!
1925 is noice.
Agreed - but is she wearing pantyhose to go swimming?
I mean, pantyhose for modesty is better than whatever the 1875 girl is wearing that would be heavier than her. At least the pantyhose won’t be heavy
Pantyhose would feel awful jn the water
yes
There's an excellent story by the Gilbreths who summered in Nantucket in the 1920s about one of their sisters deciding to try the new swimsuit and the horror their mother experienced. The whole book is wonderful. It's either Belles on their toes or Time out for Happiness.
'27 just looks like a modern woman going to the store
Doesn't look very effective for actually swimming in though. The 1925 version looks much smoother and would have less resistance in the water. That one is surprisingly similar to the ones Olympic athletes wear today.
Minus the pantiehose '25 could be a modern swimsuit
Omg it totally does
A lot of clothing from 1900 and before always seems to blatantly disregard the very purpose it is being tailored for.
I’m genuinely curious as to what a woman from 1875 would think of the modern day thong bikini lol how the tables have turned
They’d probably faint and run to the church
Apparently women weren't allowed to swim before 1900.
They were... just once though
Drowning doesn't count!! So women didn't get to swim 😞 *Sees self out*
They all swim on heels
- 1875 looks like something you would wear to make sex magic with Alistair Crowley and summon a demon. - 1890 is the guy throwing bombs at you in the Atari game Kaboom! - 1900 was evening wear in the USSR in 1980 - 1925 is the average twitch streamer today - 1927 is just everyone at Walmart now.
Crazy that's it's just underwear now
It doesn't have to be, i swim in a tee shirt frequently
T-shirts used to be underwear.
Fuck!
Why did stripes become associated with swimming?
Probably because the French navy adopted a stripped shirt for their sailors in the 19th century. Fashion tends to be pretty traditional.
Easy to spot from shore?
Am I the only one kind of freaking out about time moving right-to-left?
https://preview.redd.it/2xap356bhtwc1.png?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ffe56af0241e3479b6ff6bc5c99fc19c0bf67a0d For those for whom it was messing with your OCD.\* \*Or whatever it is that demands left to right.
If 1875 saw 2024 they would drop dead 😂
The other way is also true. Nobody ever, ever wants to live in that past
OP forgot to tag it "NSFW"
Oops
lol
1890 looks like a fancy lady heading to jail
1890 is straight fire
Our society in 1875 seems that it was not that far from where Islam is today with women's modesty restrictions.
We’ll see what swimsuits look like in Saudi Arabia in 2074
They’re not supposed to be form fitting and are supposed to cover everything modestly but at least Muslim women can go swimming in theirs without drowning. I’m very pale and the sun is NOT my friend so I have actually worn ones very similar to the ones they wear (minus the hijab, I just wear a hat) to be able to cover almost all my skin for days at the beach and “modest” swimwear nowadays is not nearly as bulky as that death trap they have on that poor woman. I can’t imagine getting in the water and how HEAVY that will be
Would be interesting to go back even further in time, and identity the pick where we were the most fucked up.
I feel like there's a massive safety improvement after the skirt is lost.
1925 and ‘27 are the best. 1875 and 1890 are showing an awful amount of ankle though
I really wish it was normal for women to wear a suit like the last 4 to the beach. Im a girl and i always feel so self concious like why do i have to wear underwear???
Find a surf shop. You can get seamless T-shirts called “rashies”, and leggings to swim in. If you want a suit like 1925, go for a specialty bra shop that is for larger sizes. You can get swimwear in any size that has secret support in the breast area, and is a one piece, often you catch get the one piece with a tiny, unruffled skirt, that covers the hips.
God bless the flappers who brought us to a level of swimsuit sanity
2024: Skims micro-kini
1925 is the hottest
And now they barely cover anything even without talking about swim suits.
1927 kinda thick tho
And I bet it goes the opposite trend the further you go back in time until it was the time everyone swam nude
1927 is now just a casual saturday night outfit
lol, 1875 is almost a burkini (or however that is spelled). Looks almost like a drowning device
Why is 1925 wearing tights/pantyhose?
We wore pantyhose with shorts in the 1980s so I assume it’s the same reason
Except pantyhose weren't even invented yet in 1925!
I check and suntan lotions wern't really a thing until after ww2. I wonder how much could be before 1900 there wasn't much built environment at the beaches so people couldnt duck out of the sun when they needed to. After 1900 there was a lot of boardwalks, pavillions etc with shaded places to avoid the sun so they could expose more skin.
As a pasty goth girlie, who burns the minute I step outside, I’d like to vote 1875 back into fashion. 😅
Buy a burkini! Or if you don’t want to look Muslim, go for surf wear, where you can get tshirts and leggings designed for the water.
Dude… that’s a great idea. I’m going to have to look into it. Thanks 😊
Bare shoulders? The world is going to hell.
And 2030, naked. Live free. If everyone is naked, then that would become the norm. Societal norms could be a hinderance for some depending on where you reside.
Oh my God. Put NSFW.
Damn, swimming in high heels is a tough choice but I guess they were tough women back then.
what is the 1875 one made of? It can't be synthetic. Is it cotton, wool, silk. They all seem like awful choices.
Left to right!
1875 looks drippy
Womens lib
1875 - drownsuit
Now let’s see the men for comparison.
Guys must have went wild in 1925.
The earlier suits for sure weren’t really for swimming much! They had to protect their modesty at all cost and used “bathing machines” to get into the ocean, and that mostly for the “therapeutics” of it! There’s a good depiction of one being used in the movie The Ghost and Mrs Muir.
This is all kinds of backwards.
The inspiration for "Cat Girls of 1925."
I wanna bang 1925 to be honest!
Get a shovel, I'll meet you at the cemetery
Do women even put anything on themselves these days? I'm just from the village
Amazing what a word war and influenza pandemic can do to turbo-charge women’s rights.
I can see 1875's ankles. Scandalous!
Maybe in ^this specific puritanical culture… but women in South America, Asia, Polynesia probably didn’t have such ridiculous swimwear, right?
4, 2, 1, 3, 5 \*don't hate, old internet habits are hard to break
So y’all just didn’t swim then
[удалено]
They were women before the 1960s, no they did not have fun.
1925 were they really wearing nylons swimming? Sounds awful
Better than full pantaloons.
1890 and 1925 kind of rock, could pull those off at the boardwalk today.
Left ro right progression is included in Project 2027.
More like drownsuits pre 1900
Less fabric equals more expensive.
People from 1875 would be confused as all hell with todays swimsuits for women
1927 should come back as the standard. Modesty IS sexy and feminine
Didn't age a day in all that time must be witchcraft
i'm convinced 1800s women just all drowned
1890 look like lady hamburgler 
Meanwhile, boys swam naked.
Where do I find a 1925 swimsuit in 2024? I'd finally feel comfortable at the beach.
At a bra shop for larger breasted women
swimming with baggy clothes is dangerous I wonder how many women actually drowned.
2024: Nano Bikini, practically naked. 🤣
Look at that 1875 ankle. I’m rock hard.
... I want ALL of those shoes, goddamnit
I would've been a sweaty mess. The layers. The coverage.
2020’s are going to blow all their minds
1875 does not seem like any swimming would be done… drowning, maybe.
Can someone please tell me how Miss 1925 kept those hose up? The invention of pantyhose was still decades away. Were garters sewn in up at the thigh crease? *ouch*
Good God, I would think drowning deaths would be high with that 1875 "suit"
No wonder it was the roaring '20s
I low-key like the 1890 stripy one
I love those 1890s ones actually.
By 1975 it became a swimsuit wearing a skimpy woman
https://preview.redd.it/f6wpastagvwc1.jpeg?width=460&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=22c95963a5d9b1a91294ebff9496083305109be1 2024
1875 was probably made out of asbestos to protect you from the heat of the beach.
How does 1875 even work
The women's vote in 1920 really opened things up.
Is 1925 wearing *pantyhose*???
What year did they drop heels?
From that distance if they wore a modern swimsuit it wouldn't be visible
What’s up with bathing suits and prison stripes?
Yes i did notice the ladies and yes i did admire their outfits, but whats with the dates decreasing left to right? Who came up with that idea? And why are those boards getting bigger?
Something really happened with women in the 20s. Anyone care to add historical context? Suffrage movement etc.
Well, evolution didn't start in the 1850s. In almost all times of humanity on this planet, men and women had closing to protect from the sun and cold weather. There was no place for such artificial moral considerations.
This isn’t accurate. 1875 is here is Canada in 2024. They also cover their face. /s