Swimsuits Through Time

Why, oh why god of swimming did you make swimsuits skimpy figure strangling lycra sheaths? WHY?
A trip down swimsuit memory lane

Ok so not many people describe their swimsuit as the most flattering piece of clothing they own. In my time in the world of swimwear, I have frequently heard women mourn the fact that they have to wear swimwear at all.

Of course swimwear hasn't always comprised figure strangling lycra sheaths - it has evolved profoundly over the last several hundred years. I thought I'd take a look back at some of our earlier swimsuit sporting sisters to see who is really better off US or THEM?

Well if we're going to go right back, what better place to start that the Georgian Bathing Machines, invented by Benjamin Beale in the 1700s. If you have read Persuasion or seen Judy Dench play Queen Victoria in Mrs Brown you may have encountered one of these vehicles. A Georgian lady would climb aboard, change into a muslin bathing shift and then be pulled by horses into the sea. Once 75% submerged, the lady could climb down the stairs of the machine and have some sea exercise - and yes that's right not an ankle glimpsed. She remains perfectly modest.

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