Resort Fashions 2013 - Swimsuit Retrospective 1935, 1936, 1938

1935

 This Jantzen suit was almost a bra and pants bathing suit but had a thin isthmus of material between top and bottom. Sun bathing had by now become a national craze, and women let down suits when no one was looking. :0 !

1936

By 1936, bare midriff suits like this one were widespread. It is really the Riviera maillot cut in half. The bra was ot shaped but it was still too much for Rye, New York and Dover, New Jersey, where it was banned.

1938

In 1938, "lastex" suits, very tight with molded bras, were worn everywhere. It was also the era of the clammy, easily torn, all-rubber suit. This was about the last summer that men wore any tops.

Resort Fashions 2013 - Swimsuit Retrospective 1932, 1933, 1934

1932

Backless one-piece suits were the new thing! Skirts had now been hiked to the top of the thighs but necklines were still quite high and few had dared to think of a bare midriff.

1933

The first really slinky bathing suit was the maillot, borrowed from the Riviera. Police had to control crowds when it was first displayed in a window in New York. It was skin-tight all over and cut very low in back.

1934

This was an adaptation of the maillot. It consisted of a discreet halter fitting into separate pants. The bust was still not shaped. This conservative halter and pants paved the way for the two-piece bra and pants combination.

Resort Fashions 2013 - Swimsuit Retrospective - 1929, 1930, 1931

1929

In 1929, the dressmaker suit still let a girl with a poor figure look pretty when she went swimming. This was a boom year when people drove to the beach in big open Cadillacs and paid $500 for a cabana.

 1930

In 1930, the Depression and a sudden trend to nudity set in together. On the beach, men and women looked about the same in their belted suits. In pools about the country, Eleanor Holm, an Olympic gold medalist swimmer, was beginning to be famous.

1932

Stores sold 12,000,000 suits in the Depression. People had discovered swimming and sea bathing were cheap recreation. In 1932, the rage for dressmakers was declining except for older women.