Research+Paper

This research paper covers about two hundred years of the evolution of the swimsuit and its symbolic influence on the development of women's roles in society. This paper is divided into four waves of feminism and follows a chronological timeline of the evolving swimsuit and how women were simultaneously evolving. From fabrics, colors, and name changes the swimsuit has become a symbolism of a woman’s role of evolving through adjustments in society. It is important to note the dates that changed swimsuit history as well as women’s history. In addition to the past, the swimsuit has a role in the future of women’s roles in society. The future is not only in the hands of swimsuit designers but it is in the hands of society, both men and women, as a whole.

Evolution of Empowerment The swim suit has been altered in every way possible, including its name, color, fabric, style, and purpose. Taking this into account, the bathing suit and the modern woman have come a long way from their predecessors. Despite these alterations, women still struggle to express themselves as empowered, individual women rather than objects. Although women struggle to not be objectified, the future holds more advances toward empowerment in women’s societal roles through the bathing suit.

The bathing suit emerged long before the 20th century. Swimming dates back to the 4th century where mosaic tiles on the floor of Sicily's Villa Romana del Casale portray women in bikini-like bandeaus and bottoms (Friedlander). In Greece and Rome, men and women bathed together and sometimes simply swam nude. After Rome fell, “Europe not only lost the art of swimming, but didn’t bathe for 1000 years” exaggerated Bruce Wigo. Soon after, Christian rulers demanded that women cover up so that they would not tempt men to sin (Muldoon).

Recorded in the 18th century, the ‘bathing gown’ emerged in France and England where women and men would engage in public bathing, not swimming. These bathing gowns were anything but practical or comfortable. Women would go to the beach with every inch of their skin covered. Even women’s heads were covered in bathing caps or parasols (Friedlander). It was considered scandalous if a woman showed her knees (Samantha). Bathing was a brief and rare activity in this age where men and women were separated and designated to different areas of the beach. Women would sew lead weights to the bottom of their gowns in order to prevent their gowns from exposing their legs (Hsueh). The fabric was another burden of women’s bathing suits. They were required to wear heavy, dull, itchy wool into the water (Samantha).

Parallel to the confining bathing gowns, during the Victorian Age women were socially confined and rarely exposed (Women’s Life). Their lives revolved around the 'women sphere' which demanded them to create order in the home in return for protection, financial security, and social security from her husband who was exposed out in the 'public sphere' (The Emergence of ‘Women’s Sphere’). This ‘women sphere’ was confining and very demanding at the same time. During the Victorian Age, the role of women was weighed down like the weights on their bathing suits.

In the Merriam-Webster dictionary feminism is defined as political, economic, and social equality of the sexes (Sink). All three aspects of feminism contribute to how women are portrayed today. Swim suits have symbolized the social equality between men and women in positive and negative ways. Unfortunately, social equality is difficult to control because it cannot be controlled by laws or money but rather influencing other’s opinions. The swim suit is the ‘most provocative clothing worn outside the house,’ according to Norma Kamali, a swimwear designer. It is the social costume that reveals who women are.
 * __Feminism and the Bathing Suit:__**

__First Wave of Feminism:__ The first wave of feminism was defined as the fight for equality; women wanted to secure their basic civil rights (Head). One of the greatest turning points in the First Wave was the 19th Amendment. Women fought for the right to vote for seventy years, beginning in 1848 and accomplishing it in 1921 (Sink). Through this time period the bathing gown evolved into a more form-fitting, functional, and stylized costume that the ‘new woman’ embraced.

“The suit that changed bathing to swimming” was made by Jantzen Knitting Mills fromPortland,Oregonin 1913. This new stretchy, but warm suit was made of virgin wool for a rowing crew (Swimwear Timeline). This invention became Jantzen’s first prototype bathing suit which sold internationally (Friedlander). A unisex unitard was a big improvement over the confining head-to-toe, extremely modest bathing costumes for women of earlier eras. The unisex swim suit allowed men and women to be on equal levels while swimming in the water. This new innovative suit was more than just a fashion invention; it revealed social upheaval, women's liberation, sexual revolution, political change and corporate shifts. Surprisingly, instead of a logo advertised for men, Jantzen designed a logo called “Red Diving Girl” dressed in this sought after suit of the day (Muldoon). By 1921, Jantzen had officially transformed the phrase and activity of the ‘bathing suit’ into ‘swim suit’ (Swimwear Timeline).

The 1920’s was a time of living on the edge. Jantzen had motivated other swimwear designers to take risks. The 19th Amendment, passed in 1920, brought a promising omen to the women of the roaring twenties (Sink). Women’s suffrage sparked a new sense of confidence in women. The prolonged fight for voting rights was finally over, and women celebrated their new profound freedom with flirtatious new swimwear. Women’s bathing suits transformed from a therapeutic ‘bathing’ purpose to a sporty ‘swimming’ purpose. The Victorian stereotypes of the family duty were now erased and women were now ‘swimming’ with society. At the beginning of this new era, the bathing suit revealed the neckline, which was unheard of prior to the twenties. In the early twenties, the suit was knee length, required stockings and was made of dark colored wool (1920’s Women’s Fashion). These small alterations were just baby steps to revealing more of the modern day woman.

By the end of the 1920’s, women dressed in colorful tank top and knee high fitted short-type bathing suits. Instead of dull colors, the late 20’s brought on colors like Navy Blue, Red, and Beige and new fabrics like rayon, jersey, and silk (Swimwear Timeline). Within this decade, official public attitudes toward the bathing suit, slowly but progressively, began to change. Swimsuit designers altered the bathing suit by experimenting with new cuts and fabrics, making this decade a liberating experience for women (1930’s Fashion). Although this wave of feminism focused on women’s political equality by voting, the after affect was also a social change, or upgrade. The 1920's was a confidence boost and a new lead to women empowerment. As society became more accepting of new alterations to the bathing suit, it also became more accepting of women’s roles in society.

The alterations to the bathing suit from the Roaring Twenties remained similar through the 1930's except color began to range from greens to pinks. The 1930’s introduced the new activity of sun tanning. This new activity required the suit to be strapless and have minimal fabric (Swimwear Timeline). For the next decade and a half, designers altered the bathing suit progressively making it shorter and tighter (1930’s Fashion). Through this progression, the first wave began to die down and a new wave of bathing suits and feminism crashed onto the shore of society.

__Second Wave Feminism:__ Unfortunately, the First Wave did not create equality among the sexes. The Second Wave of feminism adopted what the first wave did not accomplish; it challenged equality in the work place and emphasized women's control over their own bodies (Sink). War restrictions were greatly responsible for a new innovation of the bathing suit. Cut outs began to emerge because less fabric was available during World Ward II. The 1940’s produced all color swimsuits (Swimwear Timeline). During the 40’s, women filled positions in factories, farms, and the military in order to supportAmerica’s war time efforts. The 40’s was a hopeful time for women and their future roles in society; they fantasized about the mere idea that after the war they would work side by side with men.

This optimistic viewpoint sparked the most innovative, evolutionary swim suit yet, the bikini. In 1946 on the French Riviera, Jacques Heim and Louis Reard engineered and designed the bikini, a two triangle top to cover the bosom and two triangles to cover the front and back on the bottom of a woman (Charleston). This new innovation was a new spark in the women’s liberation movement. It was a social leap concerning body consciousness, moral concerns, and sexual attitudes. This symbolic piece of cloth gave women empowerment and confidence in themselves. It was revealing and edgy, which made women feel as if being looked at in an innovative piece of clothing was like the power they never were able to have.

After the war, women were replaced by the returning soldiers and assigned ‘housewife’ again (Sink). This created a major setback in the symbolism of the swim suit. Unfortunately, men misinterpreted women in tiny swim suits as stereotypical sex objects. During this transition from war to peace, women were treated as objects; useful when needed but thrown away when not needed. Women were useful tools during the war, but without any warning they were kicked to the curb once the war was over. At such a degrading time in women’s history, what these women needed most were their voices. Some of the women believed that these revealing suits were some kind of power in sexual dominance that would give them a voice to express themselves (Kamali). These women of the time were more vocal and liberated than their predecessors and decided to fight for what was theirs; a new war began inside ofAmerica’s society. The Second Wave allowed women to fight for equality on a more economic standpoint, as well as show society that they were not objects by standing up for themselves.

The bikini gained great popularity in theUnited Statesduring the 1960's (Samantha). Later in the 60’s an even briefer bikini called the ‘string bikini’ had string ties for the minimal halter bra and triangular panties also tied and worn low on the hip (Charleston). The “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini” had a bright psychedelic color palette along with fabric changes to Bri-Nylon, Drilon, Rayon Jersey, Crepe, Lycra, and Helenaca (Swimwear Timeline). Women were officially vibrant, symbolic images of liberty. They revealed almost everything about them and were liberated from the weighted down wool gowns their predecessors wore.

__Third wave feminism:__ Third Wave Feminism focuses on the individual’s empowerment and discovery of one’s identity (Head). Since the 1990’s, Third Wave Feminism has encouraged women to express their individual selves (Rockler-Garden). The bathing suit has played a great role in the way women express themselves. According to Norma Kamali, “A walk down the beach becomes a real life show, not of fashion, but of the female form displayed to attract men and to compete with other women” (Kamali). Unfortunately, a woman walking confidently down the beach might be objectified by a man while to another woman she might seem empowered. In other words, how one perceives a woman in a bathing suit greatly depends on the audience. Men tend to put female forms on display like objects. On the other hand, wearing a swim suit with confidence allows women to admire each other and therefore compete against each other. Third Wave Feminism encourages a woman’s confidence. A key challenge for designers, such as Kamali, is to make their clients feel confident in a comfortable swim suit. Women buy swimwear with great care because of conformability, competition, and attraction. With swimwear, it is difficult to draw the line between a bathing suit that will allow women to feel empowered rather than objectified.

The swim suit continues to evolve. Norma Kamali states, “My job as a swimwear designer is to think about the swimsuit design as a sculpture, 360 degrees of it, to enhance and complement the body. I like to create styles that empower women, but I ask myself, am I not feeding into the stereotype of women as objects when I design swimwear?” (Kamali). Designers like Pualani's Iwalani Isbell say that the modern symbol of the bathing suit is, “Empowerment. Look at the professional surfers and beach volleyball athletes and you see strong powerful women doing what they love to do.” Although this is true and women have come a long wave from the weighed down gowns, there are is also a downside to the evolution of the bathing suit in its modern form. Isbell suggests that “Younger clients tend to be more open about new styles and less coverage and enjoy being experimental" (Isbell). Younger generations are expressing their freedom by experimenting, which is the definition of Third Wave Feminism. Unfortunately, more skin does not mean more empowerment. The current struggle for swim suit designers is finding the balance between empowerment and being objectified. Professional swimwear designers are struggling to design a swimsuit that will define a woman’s identity. This is because a woman's identity cannot be defined by a designer that makes 'one size fits all' swim suits but rather a woman defines her own identity. It is interesting to note that women's bathing suits are a range of many different styles from the shoulders to the ankles while men's suits only range from waist to knees (Friedlander). This reflects the many different and unique women in society today.
 * __Future Implications:__**

__Fourth Wave Feminism:__ Although society claims to still be living in Third Wave Feminism, there possibly is a Fourth Wave floating out in the waters. Although Third Wave Feminism emphasizes individualism, the Fourth Wave will encourage the same societal values but also include a new economic standpoint. Technology is the new wave that will help evolve the bathing suit. Society is constantly changing and so is technology. The only constant aspect of bathing suit history is that it is constantly changing. Swim suit designers have already thought of innovative ideas to allow women to express their individualism without being objectified such as tan through, eco-friendly, and form-fitting, aero-dynamic swimwear (Swimsuits for Women).

In the past, beginning in the 1930’s, swimsuits were used for recreational sun tanning. A swimsuit of the 30’s allowed women to tan from head to toe by exposing themselves to the world. Designers have struggled over making modest one-pieces that allow women to tan. Swimsuit designers have taken this controversial aspect into account and have developed one piece swim suits that allow the sun to pass straight through the fabric without exposing one’s self (Hub pages). New technological swim suit designs allow women to not be objectified and to be able to have the freedom to feel empowered. This new innovative, technological advancement is one of many that will lead to a new era of swimsuit evolution.

The evolution of the bathing suit and the modern woman will not end in this ideal Fourth Wave Feminism; it is a continuous, unending cycle. Women have evolved from burdensome wool ‘bathing gowns’ to liberating swim suits. The bikini is just the beginning of a new objectifying burden that women need to solve. Although swimwear designers struggle to empower women in their bathing suits, new innovations are promising stronger and less objectifying designs for women in the future. Through the evolution of the bathing suit, the modern day woman has developed into a multitude of different types of women; there is not just one. The process of the swim suit evolution, not a specific era, continues to allow women to express their individual rights.