The Evolution of Swimsuits: 50+ Photos That Show A Complete History Of Beach Fashion From 1800s To Present Day

The fashion industry is the most rapidly changing industry because it is highly influenced by its famous personalities, seasons, and fashion designers. Swimming suits have been evolved more than any other fashion through the decades. From full-shade dresses to two-piece swimsuits. The bathing suit styles are closely linked to social change and, more specifically, about the role of women in society in a particular era. As printed in an article for the University of Pennsylvania Museum, the Villa Romana del Casale houses frescos that show women wearing what looks like two-piece swimsuits. The tesserae portray girls in athletics competitions, wearing two-piece suits. It is probably more than 2000 years old. Check out the figure below. This swimsuit alone still wasn’t modest enough for some Victorians. According to Victoriana Magazine, “The bathing machine allowed a modest Victorian woman to spend the day at the beach in complete privacy. Archived photographs from the 1800s show that Victorian women wore bathing gowns. Bathing and swimwear evolved in the 20th century. The billowy, heavy layers of the 19th-century swimsuits were replaced by a couple of inches to a light dress. We here at bygonely have compiled a comprehensive list of historic photographs to show you how bathing suits evolved, started from two pieces and until now we came back to two pieces. What do you think about these swimsuits and their history? Let us know in the comments and vote for your favorite one.

#1 Ancient Rome (753 BC – 476 AD)

#2 Victorian Women wtih bathing gowns, 1800s

#3 Victorian era (1837-1901)

#4 A woman wearing a fashionable bathing costume, 1870

#5 Holidaymakersin bathing suits in the ocean surf at Santa Monica, Calif, 1890

#6 Woman in one-piece bathing suit and cap reclining on a beach in France,1900

#7 Women wearing 1900s swimsuits having right down to the collars and buttons made from heavy flannel or wool fabrics

#8 Edwardian beach fashion plus hat 1906

#9 Edwardian woman enters a bathing machine after a swim, 1906

#10 A Girl in A Bathing Costume,1909

#11 Annette Kellermann, the first woman to swim across the English Channel, 1910

#12 4 women wearing sleeveless fabric swimsuit, 1910

#13 Four young women in matching beach wear run out of the surf, Los Angeles, 1910

#14 Turkish-style bloomers, 1910

#15 4 Women enjoying at beach with differnt bathing suits, 1912

#16 Actress Elsie Marson in a red silk swimsuit with white embroidered spots, 1918

#17 When Men’s and Women’s Swimwears Look the Same, 1920s

#18 Women’s Swimsuit Fashion in Norway, 1920s

#19 Women wearing 1920s Swimsuit with matching stockings

#20 Woman having her swimsuit measured for length violations on a Washington DC beach, 1922

#21 Five women walking arm-in-arm on the beach wearing wool bathing suits, 1925

#22 A bathing dress,1926

#23 Full face swimming mask, 1928

#24 Dancer Alice Nikitina wearing a striking bathing suit at the beach in Alassio, Italy, 1929

#25 Belted one-piece jersey bathing suits with stripes on the bottom; designed by Lucien Lelong, 1929

#26 In 1930s Swimsuits were usually shorter, tighter, and flirtier

#27 Swimsuit fashion in Paris, France,1930

#28 Woman wearing cut-out swimming suit at the Aquatic gala at Molitor swimming pool, on June 23, 1931 in Paris

#29 Verna Lee Fisher sporting her newly created crossword swimsuit with matching bathing hat, at Palm Beach, 1933

#30 Actress Joan Blondell wearing skirt-style swimsuit with a lower neckline, 1933

#31 Geisha wearing swimsuit with black stockings, 1933

#32 Geishas beach fashion, 1930s (Japanese women who entertain through performing the ancient traditions of art, dance and singing)

#33 Giesha girls, 1935

#34 The Latest In swimwear on a beach In California, 1934

#35 Actresses Ida Lupino and Kathleen Burke model the latest swimwear, 1935

#36 Anita page & Leila Hymans -Stretchy synthetic fabrics, with higher-cut legs and lower cut necklines, 1930s

#37 embers of the Pioneer Health Centre in Peckham, south London, learn how to swim on November 19, 1935

#38 1930-1939 style

#39 Actress Alexis Smith in a swimming costume running along the beach in southern California, 1940

#40 Bathing suit clad female members of the British Imperial Censorship Staff,standing poolside at the Princess Hotel, 1941

#41 1940s swimwear featured stretchy control panels in the stomach, made from a new type of material called lastex

#42 Bra cups in the bust to keep the figure looking good in the revealing, 1940s

#43 Suits fastened with small buttons or metal zippers in the back in 1940s

#44 Any color could be found on a swimsuit, but patriotic colors were popular as well as floral patterns, 1940s

#45 Girls in swimsuits with rifles, 1940s

#46 Model posing in bathing suit in Florida, 1945

#47 Two models wearing bathing suits and bathing caps,1946

#48 On July 5, 1946, French model Micheline Bernardini wore the bikini for the first time in Paris.

The new 'Bikini' swimming costume caused a sensation at a beauty contest at the Molitor swimming pool in Paris. Designer Louis Reard was unable to find a 'respectable' model for his costume and the job of displaying it went to 19-year-old Micheline Bernardini, a nude dancer from the Casino de Paris. It was marketed as a two-piece swimming suit that revealed “everything about a girl except her mother’s maiden name.”

#49 Bikinis, Swimsuits and all other types of beach wears started emerging in 1950s, designers instroduced wide variety of unique styles.

#50 Brigitte Bardot starred in the 1952 French film “Manina, the Girl in the Bikini,” one of the first times the bikini appeared in a movie.

#51 Jean Patchett in oink velvet bathing suit, Vogue, 1951

#52 A girl wearing stylish swimwear, 1952

#53 Model seated with basket on a rooftop, wearing Calypso designed patterned bikini, 1952

#54 Liz Pringle as Liz Benn models a strapless swimsuit by Givenchy Vogue, 1953

#55 A group of southern belle models sunbathe on the beach at Cypress Gardens theme park, Winterhaven, Florida, 1953

#56 Austrian actress Mara Lane lounging by the pool in a red and white striped bathing costume at the Sands Hotel, Las Vegas, 1954

#57 Model standing under beach umbrella wearing summer dress look; pleated short shorts and matching sleeveless shirt, both in a light floral pattern. 1954

#58 Model seated on striped beach towel wearing grey and white patterned strapless bathing suit, 1954

#59 Model is in a tank-top swimsuit in moss green lace over white broadcloth and a beach coat with zipped front, 1954

#60 Sherry Nelms ‘Bathing Suits’ for Vogue, 1954

#61 Model in white shark-skin swimsuit by Jantzen, white straw sailor hat worn over polka-dotted scarf hat, both by Betmar., 1955

#62 A young woman in a bathing suit, 1956

#63 Model standing on beach wearing a bathing suit in harlequin-diamond wool, 1957

#64 Gretchen Harris, standing in ocean with open green and blue umbrella, wearing knitted black maiilot of DuPont and water-velvet cap , 1957

#65 Two models in Rose Marie Reid swimsuits. Model on left stands tree wearing blue suit, mask and flippers; model on right wears white suit with matching cap, and flip

#66 Two women wearing strapless bra, 1958

#67 Model wearing red bathing suit, 1958

#68 Model in yellow swimsuit of knitted cotton and Orlon, 1959

#69 The Bikini Girl on the Boardwalk, 1959

#70 Young women on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe, 1959

#71 The introduction of nylon and Lycra in the ‘60s made suits tighter than ever, similar to the costume Yvonne Craig wore in her role as Batgirl in the television seri

#72 60s is known as hippie’s era and its free-love advice suggested that you embrace your body and share it without shame.

#73 Annette Funicello in Swimsuit, 1960s

#74 Minds expanded and bikinis shrank in the ‘1970s

#75 From leather to lace, bright colored neon to power-suits, the aesthetic experiments of the 1980s gave the fashion world a colorful mine of styles which continue to

#76 1980s beach fashion

#77 1980s beach fashion

#78 In other words, not too different from what you’d see at the beach or pool today, 1980s

#79 In 1990s fashion trend navigated toward more athletic designs Tankinis were introduced