were made without slee\es, since any covering on the 

 arm interfered with the freedoin desirable for swim- 

 ming. Ne\-ertheless, according to other contemporary 

 fashion descriptions, American bathing suits retained 

 their long sleeves until the early 1880s when the 

 foreign fashion of short sleeves came to the United 

 States. In 1885 it was reported that 



The sleeves may be the merest 'caps' four or five inches 

 deep under the arm, curved narrow toward the top, and 

 lapped there or they may be half-long and straight, 

 reaching to the elbows, or else they may be the regular 

 coat sleeves covering the arms to the wrist. With the short 

 sleeves it is customary to add the sleeves cut from a gauze 

 vest to give the arm some protection from the sun." 



Sleeves were pushed up in 1890 and puffed high about 

 the shoulders by means of elastic tape in the hem. By 

 1893 fashion reports acknowledged that sleeve length 

 was a matter of individual choice. 



Despite this neat resolution of the diminishing 

 sleeve, contemporary sketches of bathing scenes 

 indicate that some women in the United States were 

 wearing the shorter sleeves even earlier. 



Short full trousers, reaching just below the knee, 

 accompanied by knee-length skirts — sometimes worn 

 e\en shorter — succeeded the long Turkish trousers 

 and ankle-length skirl. As the trousers diminished in 

 length, long stockings or bathing shoes with long 

 stocking tops becaiue a necessary part of the bathing 

 costume to cover the lower limbs, particularly in 

 mixed bathing (see fig. 1). The stockings, which were 

 cotton or wool, plain or fancv, and of any color or 

 combination of colors in keeping with the costume, 

 were worn with a variety of bathing shoes, sandals, or 

 slippers when bathing off a rocky shore. Foot coxer- 

 ings were usually made of white canvas; the slippers 

 were held on by a spiral arrangement of braid or 

 ribbon about the ankles, while the laced shoes were 

 often made with heavy cork soles. A gaiter shoe or 

 combination shoe and stocking was made of water- 

 proof cloth, laced up the sides, and reached to about 

 the knees. Low rubber shoes were also worn. 



Bathing caps of waxed linen or oiled silk were used 

 to protect the hair. They had whale bone in the brim 

 and could be adjusted by drawstrings in the back. 

 Blue, white, or ecru rubber hats were also used. These 

 caps had large full crowns — which held in all the 

 hair — and wired brims. A wide-brimmed rouoh straw 



hat, tied on with a strip of trimming braid or vvith 

 ribbon, was sometimes worn as protection against 

 the Sim (fig. 9). 



Bathing mantles like those of the 1870s were still 

 being worn by the late 19th century and these were 

 frequently trimmed with colored braid. Cotton tapes 

 sewn in parallel rows, mohair braid, or strips of 

 flannel were still being used to make the bathing 

 dress more attractive. 



Navy blue and white, as well as ecru, maroon, gray, 

 and oli\e were popular colors for the bathing dress. 

 In 1890 the writer of a fashion column thought it 

 pertinent to add that ". . . black bathing suits are 

 worn as a matter of choice, not merely by those 

 dressing in mourning." ^■' Apparently the wearing of 

 black no longer had this exclusive significance when 

 bathing, but prior to 1890 it did. 



As women became more active in the water and 

 were learning to swim they began to accept more 

 practical changes in bathing costimie. Not only the 

 style, as described pre\iously, but also the fabric was 

 considered for its functional characteristics. Flannel 

 was still widely used but was being replaced by serge 

 which was not as heavy when wet. Another indication 

 of this trend was that stockinet, a knitted material, 

 was gaining in popularity at the end of the century. 



The "princess style" of the early 1890s combined 

 the drawers and bodice in one garment: the separate 

 skirl fell just short of the ends of the drawers which 

 covered the knees. By the mid- 1890s, howe\-er, the 

 drawers which were now called knickerbockers, were 

 shortened so as to be completely covered by the knee- 

 length skirt. These knickerbockers were either attached 

 to the waist in the popular "princess style" or they 

 were fastened to the waist by a series of flat bone 

 buttons. 



During this same period, the mid-1890s, knitted, 

 cotton tights were sometimes worn in place of 

 knickerbockers. Bathing tights differed from the 

 knickerbockers in that they were hemmed rather 

 than gathered on an elastic band at the lower edge 

 and that they were not attached to the waist. When 

 tights were used they were completely concealed 

 by a one-piece, knee-length bathing dress. The use 

 of the more streamlined bathing tights was another 

 step toward more functional bathing costume. 

 Despite these improvements, most women con- 

 tinued to wear stockings, usually black, when they 



" "New York Fashions," Huipei's Bazar (July 4, 188.'j), 

 vol. 18, no. 27, p. 427. ■!' Ibid. (July 5, 1890), vol. 2ji, no. 27, p. 523. 



22 BULLETIN 250: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY .AND TEC:HNOLOGY 



