Figure 18. — O.ne-pieck swimming suits of knitted wool, 1930. {Courtesy of Cole of California.) 



introduced into knitted suits through the use of a 

 greater range of solid colors. Parti-colored suits, 

 with stripes and slashes of a second or e\en a third 

 color, were also featured (fig. 18). Knitting mills 

 were pressed to introduce novelty effects such as 

 mesh, waffle motifs, and lace patterns in knitted 

 fabrics. 



The insistent emphasis on no\elty encouraged the 

 development of such items as all-rubber swimming 

 suits with embossed surfaces simulating knitted tex- 

 tiles. Although this innoxation was not successful, 

 because the suits were clammy and easily torn, rubber 

 did find a definite use in swimming suits with the 

 introduction of Lastex — a yarn made with a core of 

 rubber wrapped by a fine thread of another fiber. 

 The following ad\'ertisement for swimming suits made 

 with Lastex best explains why this important innova- 

 tion is still valued by the industry today: 



There's no wrinkle, no bag, no sag, even under the most 

 ruthless sun! No other human device can even approxi- 

 mate that utter freedom, that perfection of fit, at rest or 

 in motion, that airy but strictly legal sense of wearing 

 nothing at all. There is no substitute for this elastic yarn, 

 which imparts lasting elasticity to any fabric." 



Harper's Bazaar (June 1934), 68th year, no. 26t)0, p. 9. 



Having exhausted the novelty effects of knitted 

 swim suits, women in the late 1930s began to respond 

 eagerly to the wide range of decorative possibilities 

 found in wo\en fabrics. Cotton and the relaii\ely new 

 man-made fibers such as Celanese acetate and Dupont 

 rayon were used in fabrics such as ginghams, cham- 

 brays, piques, and featherweight elastic satins. To the 

 pleasine of the fashion editors, who claimed to be 

 anxious for some relief from the nudity of the maillot, 

 suits of wo\en fabrics were made with flared skirts. 

 These had knitted linings of cotton, acetate, or wool 

 which satisfied any taste as to warmth or coolness on 

 the beach. The belief was prevalent that a wool 

 swimming suit was needed for warmth. In the 1940s 

 tlie two-piece, bare-midriff suit with tight shorts or 

 flared skirt was a popular and logical development 

 from the earlier suits with cut-out sections around the 

 midriflf. The more extreme French bikini, however, 

 was not adopted by American women when it was 

 first introduced in the 1940s, 



By the end of the forties the one-piece swimming suit 

 staged a comeback with a slight variation: the new 

 suits were structurally sculptured to mold, control, 

 and stay put while swunming or simning. They were 



PAPER 64: women's B.ATHING AND SWIMMING COSTUME IN THE UNITED ST.ATES 



31 



