During the early 1900s, people flocked to oceanside beaches for popular seaside activities as swimming, surf bathing, and diving.  The only activity for women in the ocean involved jumping through the waves while holding onto a rope attached to an off-shore buoy. Their clumsy Victorian and Edwardian style bathing costumes were often quite burdensome.

Women typically dressed in black, knee-length, puffed-sleeve wool dresses, often featuring a sailor collar, and worn over bloomers or drawers trimmed with ribbons and bows. The bathing costume was typically accessorized with long black stockings, lace-up bathing slippers, and fancy caps. 

 Fun at the beach - visitors jump through the waves while holding onto a rope.

There were varieties of style and color in turn-of-the-century bathing suits. The more conservative women stuck to the plain black taffeta or mohair bathing suit with just a slight touch of color about the collar and belt. These were not as attractive as the bright colored or striped bathing suits seen at the more fashionable sea-shore resorts.

Image: Library of Congress LC-DIG-ggbain-01347

This 1904 black mohair bathing suit features short puff sleeves and an ivory white collar bordered with polka-dotted white mohair. A broad band of the polka dot material encircles the lower edge of the skirt.
 

While the main lines in a bathing suit changed little from year to year, the style of trimming and material of the suit varied with succeeding summers.  The same basic model was used as a foundation for various styles of ornamentation.  Most bathing suit patterns included a blouse, knickerbockers, and skirt. The most used material was mohair although silk taffetas were also popular.  A good quality mohair would be chosen and shrunk before it was cut. Typically about 9 yards of fabric was required to complete the outfit.  The trimming, if it was wool or mohair, was shrunk also to avoid puckering. Bias folds of a contrasting mohair or serge, or hercules braid were commonly used for the trimming. A bias striped trimming was particularly effective.

Image: Library of Congress LC-USZ62-100442-1898

In 1906, The Ladies’ Home Journal describes one charming bathing costume of black and white striped taffetas, each stripe being about an inch-and-a-half in width. The rolling collar, belt and bands on the short puffed sleeves were of plain black taffetas. The handkerchief was tied above the forehead in a smart knot with ends of the same silk. Black silk stockings and black leather sandals laced with white silk cord completed this attractive costume.

Another costume in the same style featured lilac taffetas, with black taffetas trimmings and was worn with a lilac silk bandanna polka-dotted with small black dots. The stockings were of plain lilac silk, and the sandals were black leather laced with lilac cord.

The magazine also featured a white mohair bathing suit made with a Russian-blouse effect that had a light blue silk trimming down the front, the belt, buttons and bandanna. White silk stockings and white leather sandals completed this dainty costume, which was especially designed for a young wearer.   

Among the many other costumes was one of sea-green silk.  The sailor collar, stockings, sandals and belt were of green, one shade darker in color. The bandanna was of the same color of green, with a border of medium-sized polka dots in white. The effect was a delightfully cool one, for the suit looked like a bit of the sea tipped with foam.

Detail image: Library of Congress LC-DIG-ggbain-01344

Shown is a 1904 stylish bathing suit of red flannel serge with a white sailor collar, girdle and sleevebands edged in blue silk tape.

Another 1904 suit features a wide stitched girdle to which the blouse and skirt parts are attached. The girdle holds the suit well in place while it gives perfect freedom to the body in swimming. It is lined with a firm muslin and stitched through and through. A quality mohair is used and shrunk before it is cut.

Image: Library of Congress LC-USZ62-120028-1902

Long bathing coats were also popular at the sea-shore resorts. These coats were generally worn from the bathhouse to the water's edge, and were put on again when leaving the water.  A great many women carried these coats over their arm when going to bath and put them on immediately after leaving the water.  The Ladies’ Home Journal highlighted a bathing coat of light-gray silk and made like a large circular cape. The border down the front and around the bot­tom of the coat was of dull-blue silk, with a design of small shells done in coral pink. The two long slits for the hands were bordered with the same trimming, and the coat fastened down the front with large buttons covered with the gray silk.  Another coat in brilliant blue was featured with long sleeves and three full capes. The sleeves, capes and bottom of the coat had a border of cream-colored embroidery about an inch wide with dull blue and gold flowers worked in silk.

Most fashion magazines suggested an open collar design for suits, but for actual practical use many women preferred to wear a shield and a ribbon around the throat or a high neck on her swimsuit.  If not, when the wearer donned an evening gown it would be quite apparent that she had worn a low collar at the beach. The neck would be tanned in a distinct point outlining the pattern of her swim wear. A solution to disguise the tanning line was to wear a band of black velvet or a jeweled collar with her gown. 

As more women flocked to the beach, a need for a new costume that retained modesty but was free enough to allow the young lady to engage in swimming was obvious. By the early 1920s, the fashionable bathing suit was reduced to a one piece garment with a long top that covered shorts.