The Feminist History of Women’s Swimwear
Annette Kellerman, the ‘Million Dollar Mermaid’,
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To understand the feminist history of swimwear, we need to revisit the 18th century. The introduction of railroads meant that more Australians could access the coasts, increasing the popularity of the beach for amusement and recreation. However modesty and the standards of beauty meant women wore bonnets, gloves and other accessories that would keep their skin untouched by the sun. To remain modest, women would change in bathing machines, this was essentially a kind of enclosed carriage, that women would change into their swimming attire in. It would be wheeled by horses into the deeper part of the ocean, to prevent anyone from seeing women walk along the beach in immodest attire. It would then be wheeled back in, where the women would change from their soaked dresses and remain unseen. The women were also segregated from swimming with the men, with these bathing machines set up far apart from the designated male swimming spots. The women were also discouraged from immersing their whole body in the water as it was seen as unladylike. These measures in place would make us think that the attire they wore was scandalous, but in actual fact, these women commonly wore a heavy wool bathing dress, with drawers and stockings. Because of the weight of this dress, some women drowned, and to make matters worse, women commonly sewed weights into their skirts, so that it wouldn’t float up and seem immodest. Heavy and restrictive clothing for swimming remained in various forms until the early 1900’s, when Annette Kellerman rebelled and changed the future of swimwear, and of female empowerment forever.
Annette Kellerman was an interesting character, born in Marrickville, Sydney, Kellerman gained international fame as a swim champion and movie star. Her father organised the first Australian competitive swimming event for women. This took place in Redfern, where Kellerman won multiple races. She then held all of the international swimming records for women in 1905 and garnered international attention in her attempt to cross the English Channel, of which she got to three quarters of the way in just 10 and a half hours. Her 1914 film, ‘Neptune’s daughter’ was one of the first films to earn a million dollars in the box office, earning her the nickname the ‘Million Dollar Mermaid’. She also performed all of her own stunts in her movies, including a 20-meter dive into the ocean with her hands and feet bound. Kellerman recognised the inequality faced by female swimmers, competitive and recreational, in the restrictions outlined in my last video. In rebellion of these restrictions, Kellerman walked across Revere Beach in Massachusetts in a one-piece swimming costume. She was arrested on the spot for indecent exposure, but the impact of this then-controversial act forever changed the expectations on women’s swimming and consequently on the conservative ideals that harnessed all women to the image of femininity. This act of defiance was an inspiration to many women as the first wave of feminism in the fight for women’s suffrage and emancipation was on the rise. Women began to follow in the footsteps of Kellerman by wearing this one piece, form fitting attire to the beach and pool. This resulted in many arrests, as police enforced strict clothing conduct policies. Throughout the 1920’s, officers or special deputies would measure the swimwear of women at the beach to ensure they weren’t too short or revealing, if the officer deemed it inappropriate, the women could go to jail. However after countless arrests and tireless and ongoing rebellion, the attire eventually became accepted and mainstream. Kellerman once famously stated, “Swimming for women is more than physical, it can engender self-confidence, and in the art and science of swimming, a kind of equality, even superior to that of men”. It is thanks to Kellerman, and all the women that followed suit, that we can today, as women swim without the burden of restriction and the threat of arrest.
Soon after the Second World War, the bikini was invented by engineer Louis Réard in France in response to fabric rationing. However when showcasing his design in Paris, he could not find a professional model willing to wear the risky item, and so it was modelled by Micheline Bernadini, a 19 year old exotic dancer. These images made headlines and Bernardini later received 50,000 fan letters for being the first to wear it. Bernadini was also photographed in her bikini holding a matchbox, to show that the bikini used so little fabric that it could fit inside, displaying a solution for fabric shortages. Although initially critiqued and even banned in many areas across the world, the bikini eventually became mainstream. Fashion writer Jamie Samet stated of this innovation “Remember that no one had been to the beach in years … People were craving the simple pleasures of the sea and the sun. For women, wearing a bikini signalled a kind of second liberation. There was really nothing sexual about this. It was instead a celebration of freedom and a return to the joys in life”. The bikini was for swimwear what Christian Dior’s ‘New Look’ was for fashion, a return to luxury, normalcy and liberation.
The bikini was named after the Bikini Atoll, where the US tested atomic bombs, as Réard expected the invention to be “explosive”. Its saddening to see a series of events devastating to the people of the Marshall Islands commercialised for fashion, as the Bikini Atoll represents the desolation and uninhabitability of homes after these atomic tests and the forced relocation of the people of this Pacific Island.
While swimwear has been an outlet for female empowerment to many, we must look at this through an intersectional lens and determine the areas lacking. The industry continues even today to neglect the needs for POC and LGBTQI+ groups, people with disabilities, religious groups and more, as well as the wellbeing of the workers in the production process and supply chains. Follow my TikTok to learn what's in place for these groups, listen to their needs and discuss the inadequacies of the industry that we must work to improve so that it can progress as inclusive and accessible to all.