Spring is almost here! What vintage items will you be wearing?

[NicolettaRose]

Just wondering what everyone don when the sun is out and it is time to hit the beach and the pool? Right now I have been getting into really cute little sundresses, like this:

And little rompers like this:

'

Also just got a 1940's bikini today, does anyone know the prevalence of bikinis in the 1940's? Where they big in the 1940's, or did they get bigger in the 1950's?

 

[Snookie]

The term "bikini" was coined in 1946, named for the Bikini Atoll, where the US was conducting nuclear tests. The Bikini Atoll is a group of islands in the Pacific. Prior to this, I think the swimsuit style was merely called "2-piece".

I think bikinis got smaller in the 50's.

I'm planning my spring/summer wardrobe. I'm cutting out a periwinkle floral print for a dress right now, and I just made a couple pastel colored blouses and a cream colored skirt. I'm also on the hunt for a perfect, flowing, opaque white fabric for a dress a la the Venice Beach clip. No clue what that fabric is, yet.

Not very good quality pictures, but that's what I'm working with.

 

[pigeon toe]

I'm on the hunt for lots of light, airy late 30's style dresses with shorter skirts. Dresses are much easier for me in the summer than blouses and skirts.

I'm also definitely searching for a cute 40's/50's playsuit for going to the beach. I'm not big on swimming in the ocean, so I think it would be a cute alternative to a bathing suit.

 

[exquisitebones]

i have founda few 40s swimsuits at a local shop.. but they were all a bit bland and . the wrong size (i find that aparently NO ONE in the 40s-50s had my body shape )

but i am more on the hunt for some light sundresses!
YAY ! SUN!

 

[Pink Dahlia]

I have been looking for play suits and swim suits. It is already in the 90s here during the day which makes anything but sun dresses unbearable!

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

You're lucky to have gotten a bikini from the 40's. They weren't invented until 1946 and that was in France. They were introduced in the states in 1947, but didn't really catch on until 1957. They did become popular, but in the beginning it's notoriety came from it being viewed as scandalous. Being that they were only produced for a few years of that decade and weren't widely worn until 11 years after their introduction, IMO, they seem difficult to come by now. It's quite the collectors item to have one that was made the same decade they were introduced.

There is a lot of info on the web about the history and time-line of the bikini. Also a few years ago for the 60th anniversary of the bikini there was a great documentary on the history channel (or a channel like it) It was quite interesting and you'd probably be able to find a copy of it at your local library or online. Just about anything you need to know can be found in these places.

Here's a bit of history found by doing a quick yahoo search:
http://www.loti.com/bikini_bathing_suit.htm


"Skin Was In"

by Jeff Little

bi¬?ki¬?ni
Pronunciation: b-k n

noun: a woman's scanty or brief two-piece bathing suit

"True enough. But what most conventional definitions won't tell you is that in the 1950's (as in all other eras), skin was in. And ever since the mid-1940's, skin was in a bikini.

The modern bikini bathing suit was born in 1946. Its namesake was Bikini Atoll, part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands located in the Central Pacific. Sadly though, the now famous swimwear was not the only thing generating heat in that part of the world at the time.

The Marshall Islands are known to most as the site of United States nuclear testing in the 1940's and 1950's. Fortunately, the testing has stopped but the bikini has not.

Designer Louis Reard is credited with designing the bikini as we know it today. Oddly enough, while few people kicked up a fuss about nuclear weapon testing, they were outraged at the brevity of the garment which took its name from the region where the tests were being conducted.

(Reard predicted the burst of excitement over the swimsuit would be like the atomic bomb).

Reard was right. The bikini was considered so scandalous that he couldn't find a model to wear his design. Defying convention, he employed Micheline Bernardini, a nude dancer from the Casino de Paris to unveil it in France on July 5, 1946. But the outrage continued.

The bikini didn't catch on in the United States until 1957. Popularity grew when it was worn (quite skillfully) by Brigitte Bardot in the film And God Created Woman. But Ms. Bardot's hastening of the demand didn't end an 11-year prude-a-thon. It actually revived a trend that was over 1,600 years in the making.

Anthropologists have concluded that what we now call the bikini was worn long before the 1940's. Ancient art depicts women wearing the garment as early as 300 B.C."

There is a lot of information about bathing fashions to be found, so if you can't find it here, you'll certainly be able to find it out there.

 

[NicolettaRose]

I read that article previously, but thanks anyway. Wasn't there two piece suits before 1946?

 

[Miss Sis]

My intention is...

to make myself a white linen suit from a 30s pattern.

It is a winter pattern but I am going to shorten the sleeves, probably put a cuff on them. It has a lovely long line skirt and a short belted jacket. I recently got an NRA label ladies panama hat that I will wear with it.

Then I can feel just like I am in Monaco or the South of France. Tres Chic!

 

[RetroModelSari]

I think there really were no bikinis before the 40s... I can totally recommend this book to drool over georgous one and twopieces http://www.amazon.com/Sunkissed-Hollywood-Joshua-James-Curtis/dp/1888054778/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3/102-5232205-4435328?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1173870100&sr=1-3

For any reason the spring is already here, so if it arrives I plan to wear this cutie for the weekend:

 

[LizzieMaine]

I tend to wear lighter colors in general during the spring and summer, although with the weather being as unpredictable here as it is, I don't usually put the winter things away till May. But I've already gotten out cotton dresses in lilac, cream, and white-with-blue-trim, and once we're finished with mud season I'll be dusting off my saddle shoes and getting out my bicycle!

Two-piece swimsuits did exist in the pre-war era: the difference is that the bottoms came up to the natural waistline and didn't expose the belly button the way a bikini does. The bottoms of these early two-piecers also often had a false skirt-front.

 

[Elaina]

I live where the climate is mild all the time, so I don't change anything really. Since I have some scaring on my arms, I wear long sleeves in 20 degree weather or 100 degree weather. I might wear more 3/4 sleeves in summer, and more pants/pedal pushers, but that's not even a guarentee.

As to what I wear to the pool/lake, same thing I wear everywhere else. I wade, I don't swim. And the last time I went to the beach I was in Washington, and wearing sweaters in June. If I go out and garden or take the boy fishing, I have the shorts with the skirt front I wear with concert t-shirts since it's hot and frankly, fishing in heels is a bit much.

 

[Miss_Bella_Hell]

Ah, the warm weather. My closet is packed full of spring and summer dresses with boleros and light sweaters to wear over them for evening/springtime chills, plus separates: light swingy skirts and cotton blouses. Peep toe pumps, hair flowers, and wedge sandals...plus capri pants if I am in the mood.

I have a cotton playsuit I found at a thrift store, and an early 50s two piece made from a cotton plaid. Additionally, I have far too many vintage bathing suits to be practical, but practicality isn't really what we're about here on the FL lol

I used to have a VERY early Jantzen two piece in yellow wool but it was hard to get on (no zippers) and I was afraid of destroying it so it went back up on the bay. It hardly sold for anything, I was annoyed! That was pre-FL, or I would have put it on the classifieds here.

 

[Miss_Bella_Hell]

Reard was right. The bikini was considered so scandalous that he couldn't find a model to wear his design. Defying convention, he employed Micheline Bernardini, a nude dancer from the Casino de Paris to unveil it in France on July 5, 1946. But the outrage continued.

The bikini didn't catch on in the United States until 1957. Popularity grew when it was worn (quite skillfully) by Brigitte Bardot in the film And God Created Woman. But Ms. Bardot's hastening of the demand didn't end an 11-year prude-a-thon. It actually revived a trend that was over 1,600 years in the making.

Thanks for the article Daisy! I would love to see a picture of the nude dancer in the first bikini!

 

[fuzzylizzie]

The 2 piece bathing suit was introduced by designer Carolyn Schnurer in 1931, but it took a while for it to catch on. Here is one from my collection that Louella Ballerino did for Jantzen in 1946:

Not a bikini, by any means! In 1948, Holiday magazine did a feature on the history of the swimsuit, and in it they included a model wearing a bikini. It created an uproar among their readers!

As for what vintage I'll be wearing, I'm on a real skirt kick, and love the novelty print ones. My latest:

Here's a link to the whole collection: Lizzie's Skirt Obsession

Lizzie

 

[Pink Dahlia]

The 2 piece bathing suit was introduced by designer Carolyn Schnurer in 1931, but it took a while for it to catch on. Here is one from my collection that Louella Ballerino did for Jantzen in 1946:

Not a bikini, by any means! In 1948, Holiday magazine did a feature on the history of the swimsuit, and in it they included a model wearing a bikini. It created an uproar among their readers!

As for what vintage I'll be wearing, I'm on a real skirt kick, and love the novelty print ones. My latest:

Here's a link to the whole collection: Lizzie's Skirt Obsession

Lizzie

Both of those are just darling!

 

[ShrinkingViolet]

Lizzie, your skirt collection is fabulous! I adore those silly prints, particularly the 'funny face' one with the gendarme, thief and beatniks made me swoon!

I only have one novelty print skirt, it's postcards from Italy with tourist sight motifs and handwritten greetings in Italian on a black background. The print is allover, not border though.

 

[NicolettaRose]

I tend to wear lighter colors in general during the spring and summer, although with the weather being as unpredictable here as it is, I don't usually put the winter things away till May. But I've already gotten out cotton dresses in lilac, cream, and white-with-blue-trim, and once we're finished with mud season I'll be dusting off my saddle shoes and getting out my bicycle!

Two-piece swimsuits did exist in the pre-war era: the difference is that the bottoms came up to the natural waistline and didn't expose the belly button the way a bikini does. The bottoms of these early two-piecers also often had a false skirt-front.

Oh wow, so I guess I have a pre-war bikini That's really good and interesting to know. Is there any other ways to date a bathing suit?

 

[goldwyn girl]

I love spring and summer and am an avid collector of vintage hawaiian wear, so that is my main wardrobe for the warm weather. The other day I did find a 50's swimsuit at the thrift store!!! There were actually 3 but only one was my size I also love to sew and I have several patterns lined up.

NicolettaRose, you were lucky to find such a rare item, well done

fuzzylizzie, I love your skirt collection, especially the "Teahouse of the August Moon" I have a couple but nothing like yours, I'll be looking out for more.

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

Thanks for the article Daisy! I would love to see a picture of the nude dancer in the first bikini!

Here's a picture for you, I wish I could find a bigger one.

I read that article previously, but thanks anyway. Wasn't there two piece suits before 1946?

You're welcome, I guess:eusa_doh: Again, there are a ton of other articles online on this topic, but the ones I found seem to have the same info as the one I posted. There really isn't all that much more to tell. Like others have stated, there were 2 piece swim suits prior to 1946. They were more conservative, didn't show the navel, often the bottoms were skirts, and they weren't called bikini's. You should post a picture of the one you have, that way someone might have some info for you on what brand it might possibly be and its age.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Yes, post a pic -- we might be able to get a better idea from that. Also the labels are good clue -- especially if there's a union label. Those can generally be dated pretty easily from the design.

Interestingly, I was just looking at some films from the 1939 New York World's Fair which show gals featured in some kind of a girly-show attraction, while wearing what look very much like *post war* bikinis: the tops are very small and revealing, and the bottoms ride very low on the hips, putting the belly button on prominent display. These weren't anything you'd see on an actual beach, but clearly there were costume designers perfectly willing to push the envelope...