The Ladies in a morning when they intend to bathe, put 

 on a long flannel gown under their other clothes, walk 

 down to the beach, undress themselves to the flannel, 

 then they walk in as deep as they please, and lay hold of 

 the guides' hands, three or four together sometimes. 



Then they dip over head twenty times perhaps; then 

 they come onto the shore where there are women that 

 attend with towels, cloaks, chairs, etc. The flannel is 

 stripp'd off, wip'd dry, etc. \Vomen hold cloaks round 

 them. They dress themselves and go home.-^ 



The earliest illustration showing costume worn in 

 the United States for fresh water bathing is dated 

 1810 (see fig. 2). Unfortunately the painting reveals 

 only that the bathing gowns were long and dark 

 colored in comparison with the white dresses of the 

 period. 



An 1848 article which described, in detail, the 

 fashionable dress called for by each activity at sum- 

 mer resorts, concludes with the following tantalizing 

 paragraph: 



We have no space for an extended description of suitable 

 bathing-dresses. They may be procured at any of our 

 town establishments for the purpose. Much depends upon 

 individual taste in their arrangement, for uncouth as they 

 often of necessity are, the\' can be improved by a little 

 tact.-^ 



This is the only reference to American bathing costmne 

 of the second quarter of the 19th century that the 

 author has found at this time. Ne\-ertheless, an 

 English source describes what must ha\'e been a 

 transitional style between the chemise-type bathing 

 gown and the more fitted costume of the 1850s. 



The ]forhvoman's Guide, published in London, 

 1840, included instructions for making both a bathing 

 gown and a bathing cap. Health and modesty were 

 the main considerations that influenced the choice 

 of color and type of material. 



Bathing gowns are made of blue or white flannel, stuff, 

 calimanco, or blue linen. As it is especially desirable that 

 the water should have free access to the person, and yet 

 that the dress should not cling to, or weigh down the 

 bather, stuff' or calimanco are preferred to most other 

 materials; the dark coloured gowns are the best for 

 several reasons, but chiefly because they do not show the 

 figure, and make the bather less conspicuovis than she 

 would be in a white dress. "^ 



-" Diarv of John Crosier, 1782, as quoted in C. Willett and 

 Phillis Cunnington, Handbook of English Costume in the Eight- 

 eenth Century (London: Faber and Faber, 1957), p. 404. 



-* Log. cit. (footnote 19). 



^9 .\ Lady, The Workwoman's Guide (London: Simpkin, 

 Marshall, and Co., 1840), p. 61. 



The following details reveal that, in general, this 

 1840 bathing gown starts as an unshaped garment 

 similar to the gown attributed to Martha Washington 

 [brackets are mine]. 



As the w idth of the materials, of which a bathing gown 

 is made, varies, it is impossible to say of how many 

 breadths it should consist. The width at the bottom, when 

 the gown is doubled, should be about 15 nails [1 nail = 

 2% in.]: fold it like a pinafore, slope 3% nails for the 

 shoulders, cut or open slits of 3)4 nails long for the arm- 

 holes, set in plain sleeves 4}> nails long, 3% nails wide, 

 and make a slit in front 5 nails long.'" 



The instructions for finishing this gown, however, 

 show that the sleeves were worn close around the 

 wrists and that the fullness of the skirt was secured 

 at the waist by a belt. 



In making up, delicacy is the great object to be attended 

 to. Hem the gown at the bottom, gather it into a band 

 at the top, and run in strings; hem the opening and the 

 bottom of the sleeves and put in strings. A broad band 

 should be sewed in about half a yard from the top. to 

 button round the waist.'" 



By the addition of the above details this type of 

 bathing gown more closely approximates the style 

 of the long-skirted blouse of the 1850s to be described 

 later. 

 In regard to the bathing cap we are told that. 



These are made of oil-silk, and are worn, when bathing, 

 by ladies who have long hair. ... It is advisable, how- 

 ever, for those who have not long hair, to bathe in plain 

 linen caps, so as to admit the water without the sand or 

 grit, and thus the bather, unless prohibited on account 

 of health, enjoys all the benefit of the shock without 

 injuring the hair.^- 



The "Scene at Cape May" (fig. 3) shows women 

 wearing long-skirted, long-sleeved, belted gowns as 

 well as head coverings similar to the type described 

 in The Workwoman'' s Guide. 



Thus during the period when bathing became 

 popular as a medicinal treatment, women wore loose, 

 open gowns perhaps patterned after a common under- 

 garment, the chemise. Although this chemise-type 

 bathing costume must have been very comfortable 

 when dry, its fullness was restricti\e when wet. The 

 bather could onl\- immerse henself in water which was 

 all that was necessary for the treatment. As the 

 recreational possibilities of bathing began to o\er- 



3» Loc. cit. (footnote 29). 



31 Loc. cit. (footnote 29). 



32 Ibid., p. 68. 



P.-\PER 64: women's BATHING AND SWIMMING COSTtME IN THE LNITED STATES 



15 



