First There Was Wool

 First there was Wool

Prior to the middle of the twentieth century, bathing suits were typically constructed of wool or cotton.
Until rayon was introduced in the 1920s, the main available fabrics were linen, cotton, silk and wool.
Wool was considered a suitably durable material for swimsuits because of its resistance to wear and tear
and its resilience against dirt. According to an advertisement for a mohair bathing suit found in the 1908 Sears,
Roebuck Catalogue, wool was an ideal fabric for bathing costumes as it “…sheds water well and does not cling to the figure”. 

The Miracle Fiber - Lastex
About 1925, an elastic, two-way stretch textile made from Latex was introduced, called Lastex.
Lastex is a yarn that has an elastic core wound around with cotton or silk or nylon or rayon threads.
Lastex was registered as a trademark in 1931. Lastex was know as the 'miracle fiber' when it first came out.

Lastex fabrics can be made to stretch one way or two, or all ways, depending on whether the elastic thread is used only in the warp, or in both warp and weft, or in a net. There are many different Lastex fabrics –for example, batiste lastex, satin lastex, lace lastex, and a leno lastex which, though extremely strong, is very light in weight, and so is much in use for garments designed for tropical wear.

Lastex began to be used in swimwear starting in the late 30's and continuing through the very early 60's.
The smooth fitting and flattering fabric allowed swimwear and foundation  makers to produce products
that enhanced the figure, were lightweight, and fit snugly. Mabs of California, Cole, Catalina & Jantzen
were some of the first companies to use Lastex in their swimsuits. Cole went so far as to patent thier own version of Lastex called Matletex.

And Finally Nylon
Nylon's advent created a revolution in the fiber industry. Rayon and acetate had been derived from plant cellulose, but nylon was synthesized completely from petrochemicals. It established the basis for the ensuing discovery of an entire new world of manufactured fibers. DuPont began commercial production of nylon in 1939.
And then there was the war, which had most nylon manufacturing go towards Military supplies.

Hello Norma Jean

 

Hello Norma Jeane

Army photographer David Conover was one of the first photographers to take a photoshoot of Marilyn Monroe, then known as Norma Jeane. His work, including some photos of Norma Jeane, appeared regularly in such military magazines as Yank and Stars and Stripes. Norma Jeane was enthusiastic about her new vocation, and even consented to join Conover on picture-taking excursions through Southern California. After the initial Yank magazine photographic session with Conover, Norma Jeane posed for him on other occasions. As his freelance model, she was paid five dollars an hour.



A commercial photographer named Potter Hueth became interested in Norma Jeane on a professional level after Conover showed him some of his photographs. Hueth asked Norma Jeane if she would be willing to work on "spec." That is, he would shoot some photos of her and then tout them to various magazines, but Norma Jeane would not get paid unless the photos were sold.



Some of Potter Hueth's photographs of Marilyn ended up on the desk of Emmeline Snively, head of the Blue Book Model Agency in Los Angeles. Snively sent Norma Jeane a brochure and expressed interest in using her if she was willing to take Blue Book's three-month modeling course. The photo at the left is from 1945 while Norma was at the Blue Book Modeling Agency. Norma Jeane is wearing a Catalina two piece suit.



In 1946, Norma Jeane's modeling career had taken off, coinciding with the boom in exploitation magazines. Though virtually nonexistent today, these types of publications flooded the market after World War II, particularly after paper rationing ended in 1950. Several types of exploitation magazines appeared on newsstands following the war. Some were devoted to lurid crime stories, others to dimestore romance or Hollywood scandal.



A significant number were aimed at men. Contrary to what might be assumed today, the magazines did not include photographs of nudes but displayed women in bathing suits, negligees, towels, and other scanty but tasteful attire. By modern standards, the layouts are amusing, even innocent.

Because Norma Jeane was not the tall, willowy type best suited for fashion modeling, she began to make her mark in pinup magazines such as Laff,

Peek, See, Glamorous Models, Cheesecake, and U.S. Camera. A result of the popularity of the pinup during the war, these inexpensive magazines featured the best in cheesecake photography.

 

Norma Jeane posed for a number of photographers who sold their work to pinup magazines. One of the best of these photographers was André de Dienes, a fine technician gifted with a sensitive eye that enabled him to work with equal success in color and black and white.De Dienes worked with Norma Jeane from 1945 to 1949, capturing her at the peak of her modeling career. Their last session together was a series of seashore photos shot at Tobey Beach in 1949, when Norma Jeane, by that time Marilyn Monroe, was in New York City to promote one of her early films. These images are from that session.

Marilyn Monroe was a Jantzen model back in the days when she was known as Norma Jean Baker. In 1947 She modeled the Jantzen Double Dare and Temptation suits. The “Double Dare” was a two-piece suit with peek-a-boo cutouts on the hips. She also modeled for Catalina sportswear for advertising and publicity purposes.



In 1986 Backflips landed the rights to Marilyn Monroe for a swimwear and coverup line securing the rights through the Estate Of Marilyn Monroe. We have just aquired one of these 80's suits. It is new old stock with tags and is currently offered in our store.

Catalina Swimwear and the Miss America Pageant

 

Catalina Swimwear and the Miss America Pageant

Catalina has proved to be an ever evolving brand over the decades. Founded in 1907 by John C. Bentz as Bentz Knitting Mills, renamed Pacific Knitting Mills (1912), Catalina Knitting Mills (1928), and Catalina, from 1955. In the 1930s and 1940s the company had a symbiotic relationship with Hollywood. Warner Bros. costume designer Orry Kelly and film color consultant and makeup man Perc Westmore designed for Catalina. Starlets and stars like Ginger Rogers, Joan Crawford, Ronald Reagan, and Marilyn Monroe were photographed in Catalina sportswear for advertising and publicity purposes. Catalina's influence was also intertwined with the Miss America Beauty Pageant.

The Miss America Pageant began in 1921 as a gimmick by Atlantic City businessmen to extend the summer tourist season. Two local Atlantic City, NJ reporters suggested having a newspaper convention, in which editors could increase circulation by holding contests where readers could send in photographs of beautiful girls in bathing suits. The winners of the photographic contests would then compete against each other live in Atlantic City and the winner would be crowned "Miss America".

In the early years of the pageant, a beauty competition of the women wearing bathing suits was the main event,
and for a while all contestants had to wear the same suits. Catalina swimwear began sponsorship of the Miss America pageants and this is when we begin to see Catalina swimwear on all contestants.

This picture shows a bevy of beauties from the 1949 Miss America swimsuit line-up. Jacque Mercer (far right) from Arizona, was crowned Miss America 1949. The pageant contestants were able to wear 'off the rack' Catalina swimsuits except that pageant suits had the flying fish logo on both hips instead of one.  This is the last year that Catalina pageant swimsuits were seen in the Miss America pageant.

There is no 1950 Miss America winner. Since Miss America reigns for a year following her September victory, and most of that year falls into the next calendar year, in 1950, pageant officials decided to call the winner "Miss America 1951," and have followed this practice ever since.

Yolande Betbeze, Miss America 1951, refused to pose for publicity pictures while wearing a swimsuit, citing that she wanted to be recognized as a serious opera singer. In response to the dispute, Catalina swimwear, one of the Miss America sponsors since the 1940s, withdrew sponsorship of the Miss America Pageant and created the Miss USA/Universe pageants.

This is one of Catalina's 'Miss Universe' ads from 1952.


Who doesn't still hear Bert Parks singing ~ There she is Miss America....

Rudi Gernreich - A Designer before his time

 Rudi Gernreich - A Designer Before His Time

Rudi Gernreich was a pioneer before his time in sportswear and swimwear. Gernreich made his name with swimsuits, soon followed by belted shift dresses and simple knit styles.

Gernreich was born in Austria on August 8, 1922. He and his mother fled Hitler's growing power by emigrating to the United States following the Anschluss of 1938. After studying art and a brief stint as a professional dancer, Gernreich began working in the fashion industry in the 1950s. During the 1950s Gernreich made his mark in the fashion world by designing the first unstructured women's swimsuit, a form-fitting one-piece with no wire or other supports.

Influenced by Bauhaus functionalism, Gernreich conceived a body-based dressing with coordinated underwear, celebrating the unrestrained movement of the body based on his early involvement with Lester Horton's modern dance troupe. This interest in liberating the body from the limitations of clothing surfaced in his early swimwear designs of 1952 in which he eliminated the complicated boned and underpinned interior construction that had been obligatory in the 1950s. He revived the knitted swimsuit or "maillot" of the 1920s, which he elasticized to follow the shape of the body. These experiments were continued in his knitted tube dresses of 1953.

While he achieved modest success, it was not until the swinging 1960s that his natural avant-garde tendencies were able to surface. In the early 1960s Gernreich opened a Seventh Avenue showroom in New York where he showed his popular designs for Harmon knitwear and his own more expensive line of experimental garments. During the decade he acquired a reputation for being the most radical designer in America; his designs included the jacket with one notched and one rounded lapel, tuxedos made of white satin, and the topless monokini bathing suit of 1964, which reflected the new vogue for topless sunbathing. Gernreich cropped the swimsuit just above the waist and supported it with a V-shaped pair of thin, over-the-shoulder straps, thus exposing the breasts on either side.

Gernreich was also responsible for developing the concept of unisex, believing that as women achieved more freedom in the 1960s, male dress would emerge from the aesthetic exile into which it had been cast in the 19th century. He conceived interchangeable clothes for men and women. He also invented the thong bathing suit.

Gernreich was interested less in the details and decorations of clothes and more in how they looked in motion. In the 1950s he was designing relaxed, comfortable clothes fabricated out of wool, jersey, and other malleable materials, usually in solid colors or geometric shapes and checks. During the next decade he went on to use unusual fabrics and bold color disharmonies such as orange and blue or red and purple. It is worth noting that Rudi Gernreich persisted in using wool throughout his career. His ability to mix old and new, lighthearted and classical distinguishes all his designs.

Gernreich designed swimsuits without interior foundations for Bass from 1952-1959, and swimwear for Westwood Knitting Mills from 1955-1960. Harmon Knitwear, Inc. in Marinette, Wis. made most of Gernreich's swim-suits and all of his knitted dresses in the 60's.

Rudi Gernreich for Westwood Swimsuit

Glamoursurf has recently acquired a mid 50's Rudi Gernreich for Westwood coral pink one piece button front wool swimsuit. It is shown here as well as above on the cover of Colliers Magazine dated June 8, 1956. You can also see this suit here in a retrospective exhibition which was held in 2001 at the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania.

Sun Worshipers

 Sun Worshipers

Throughout history, the human race has had a special relationship with the sun. Primitive societies in every continent have worshiped the sun as the god that provided warmth and made the crops grow.

Helios The Sun God

Helios was believed to be the Roman God of Sun. The ancient Greeks were among the first people to adopt a tradition of sunbathing or sun tanning, which they referred to as helio therapy.  For centuries man valued the sun as a source of healing.  In other ancient societies many cultures identified skin color with status, and occasionally avoided the sun to avoid pigmentation.

Changing Attitudes of Skin Color

Women of ancient Greece and Rome used lead paints and chalks to whiten their faces. Unfortunately this beauty treatment could cause death through slow lead poisoning. By the mid-10th century, arsenic became the preferred skin whitener, once again with sometimes deadly results. During the reign of Queen Elizabeth, women painted thin blue lines of their foreheads to give their skin a translucent look, and carried parasols or wore masks whenever they ventured outdoors.



Skin color became that visible definer - one that separated working classes from the ruling classes. Pale skin belonged to the leisure upper classes, while darker skin indicated a life of outdoor labor. The paler one's skin the higher the class, and men and women went to great lengths to be pale.



Before the Industrial Revolution - bronzed bodies belonged to manual laborers. To be brown in those days was a symbol of low social class. Pale, porcelain skin was in vogue - mainly because rich people stayed indoors. But as machines began to appear, the working classes left the fields for the factories. The working class began to get paler from working indoors while the rich turned progressively browner because sporting a sun tan meant you had money and could afford a leisurely outdoor life.

The Tan Gains Popularity                                                                               

By the early 1920's, helio therapy was all the rage. Daily exposure to sunlight was touted as a cure for everything from acne to tuberculosis. But it wasn't until Coco Chanel came back from the Mediterranean sporting a deep golden tan, that bronzed skin become a truly desirable item. Jean Patou manufactured "Huile de Caldee" the first sunscreen in 1928. Brown and beige-tinted powders and creams were created to be brushed on the places the sun had missed. The fashion world featured clothes for women who wanted to flaunt their new tans; shoes were worn without stockings and sleeveless dresses became stylish. Bathing costumes that had covered women's legs with bloomers and stockings, now bared the leg, and swimming became an acceptable sport for women. 



By the 1930's a sun tan stood for health, wealth and style. Before long, skimpier swim wear appeared, with slim shoulder straps which could be lowered to keep an even tan. The halter was introduced into swim wear design, allowing the shoulders to be exposed for tanning.



By the 1940's, two piece bathing suits were being worn and the world would see tanned legs, exposed midriffs and bare feet in public for the first time. Coppertone suntan cream, launched in 1944, was the first consumer mass-produced product. Pinups images became popular featuring tanned women in two-piece bathing suits. Stocking manufacturers also began using 'suntan' as a coined name for stocking colors. Then, in the 1960's the sun lamp brought the Tenerife tan to your living room - even in the middle of winter. In the 1970's the thong and the tan thru swimsuits were introduced and a suntan was virtually compulsory for any stylish woman. Models were photographed with tans in summer issues of the top fashion magazines, the darker the better. Tanning lotions were all about getting darker, with the idea of sun-protection low down on the list of prerequisites. The 1980's heralded in a fitness craze. Bodybuilders began to use tanning beds, so not to have any tan lines on the body. Spray on tans and self tanning creams were also popular.



Throughout the 70's and 80's, the fashion press promoted the sun tan as something to make you look and feel healthier and younger, in the face of a growing body of scientific evidence that it not only leads to deeper-etched wrinkles, but reduces life expectancy too. Increasing awareness of the link between exposure to the sun and skin cancer crept in slowly - aided by growing concern over damage to the ozone layer. It wasn’t until around 1972, that labeling of the sun protection factor, or SPF, was introduced in the U.S. In 1979, the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) declared that wearing sunscreen could help prevent skin cancer. In 1980, Coppertone developed the first UVA/UVB sunscreen.



Today, people continue to tan, both indoors and out.  Though there are many more safety precautions regarding sun exposure, bronzed skin is still preferred and achieved by many.  Sun block is recommended for any amount of time spent out in the sun but you can still get a tan while you’re wearing it. 



We all need some sun exposure; it's our primary source of vitamin D, which helps us absorb calcium for stronger, healthier bones. But it doesn't take much time in the sun for most people to get the vitamin D they need.



Finally, if you choose to go out in the sun:

• Use sun block rather than sunscreen. Sunblock lies on top of the skin rather than getting absorbed by it.


• Don't use micronised titanium products. Smaller particles of titanium tend to enter the skin and cause damage. Stick with the un-micronised products.


• Use broad spectrum sunblocks.


• Use sunblock if exposure to the sun is going to be in excess of 20 minutes.


• Use sunblock on cloudy days as well: 80% of UV rays come though in spite of the clouds.


• Apply sunblock 30 minutes before sun exposure, reapplying every two hours. Reapply more often if swimming or perspiring excessively. Ensure that all exposed portions of the body are well covered.


• Eat for sun protection: load up on natural anti-oxidants in your diet. Include fresh berries, green tea, spirulina and as many other natural anti-oxidants as you can.


• Cover up in the sun: parasols, hats and glasses will afford lots of protection.

Swimwear Designers

 SWIM WEAR DESIGNERS & THE HOLLYWOOD CONNECTION

Throughout the historical time line of the swim wear industry there are some famous designers who played a part it the evolution of it's growth. Hollywood also had a starring role by greatly influencing people's awareness of style and ideas of glamour in swim wear.



Swim Wear Designers

Designers of swim wear fashions are an infamous set of icons. Some came to the industry from a personal interest in form and function while others came from the Hollywood studios. Family connections also played a role.



In 1937 Rose Marie Reid began to design and sew her own swimsuits. Reid was a passionate swimmer and was dissatisfied with the prevailing styles of the time. In her first year of business she grossed $10,000. Her line of one piece suits featured shirring and draping typically associated with evening gowns. Emilio Pucci designed for Rose Marie Reid in the 1950's with color block Poncho's, sandals and beach caps.



In the 1940s Catalina hired several of Hollywood’s most famous designers to work on designs for them headed up by none other than Mary Ann DeWeese. These designers included Milo Anderson and Orry Kelly from Warner Brothers, Edith Head from Paramount and Howard Schoup from MGM. DeWeese is credited with innovations in the use of texture, including jacquard knits and appliquéd stretch cottons. She also introduced "sweetheart' swimsuits and matching sportswear for men and women. DeWeese left Catalina during the 1950's to form her own company, DeWeese Designs. In 1960 she designed diving suits for the US Olympic team. After DeWeese left Catalina, Catalina hired a number of designers, most notably Bettina Jaynes.

Elizabeth Stewart was the daughter of Catalina's founder. In 1955 she launched Elizabeth Stewart Swim wear in Los Angeles with her husband and two brothers. Hollywood costumer and couturier Howard Greer designed for Caltex featuring his 'molded torso' line. Tina Lesser had her own clothing business in the early 50's, Tina Leser Originals,but also entered into a swim wear design contract with GABAR which lasted for many years.



Cole was working with designer Margit Felligi who joined Cole in 1936 and maintained her design leadership for the company for the next thirty-six years. Fred Cole was a product of Hollywood having been a silent movie star in the 20’s before entering the swim wear industry, via West Coast Knitting Mills which was owned by his parents. Cole used his Hollywood contacts and

had contracted with Esther Williams to promote his bathing suits in advertisements. Cole had hoped to get screen credits for other suits worn by Williams in a variety of movies including Neptunes Daughter (1949), Skirts Ahoy (1952, and Dangerous when Wet (1953), but MGM was not in agreement. Cole also contracted with Christian Dior to design his one and only swim wear line which debuted in 1955.



In the early 1960's Rudi Gernreich designed swim wear that was produced by Westwood Knitting Mills and later by Harmon Knits. Anne Cole has stated that she had discouraged Gernreich from working as a free lance designer for her father in the early 60's. "It was in early 1960 that my father made his first trip to Tahiti, and he arranged to put Rudi in charge of the collection for the coming season. I knew Rudi was brilliant, but I also knew it was because he was defying conventional fashion. His swim wear was clean and simple. I was afraid we'd ruin him! I mean, he'd loose his design eye if we had him turn out the type of structured suits we were selling." In 1982 Ann Cole began designing swim wear that was launched as the Cole Collection.

Textile Designers

Textile designers also played a role in working with the swim wear designers to create the latest fashions for the swim wear industry. In the mid 1940's, Louella Ballerino designed beach clothes for Jantzen. Many of these were created from Bates fabrics which took it's inspiration from Hawaii, Polynesia and Africa. Elza Sunderland was a pioneer of fine fabrics in the 1940's & 1950's. She saw potential for producing printed rayon, acetate and Lastex, and was the first to design printed terrycloth. Her fabrics were a perfect match for designers in the sportswear industry. As one of the first textile designers to understand the potential of the elasticized miracle fabrics that were so vital to swim wear, she worked with Margit Felligi for Cole, Mary Ann DeWeese for Catalina and Rose Marie Reid. She retired in 1955. Margit Felligi patented the Maletex process for Cole, which was Cole's version of Lastex. She also was the first to use Helanca Nylon for swim wear in 1954. Margit also worked closely with Christian Dior when he designed for Cole.

Two Piece Swimsuit Evolution

 The Two Piece Swimsuit Evolution

Although the bikini became popular in Europe in the 1940's, it didn't make a real splash in the United States until the 1960's. A couple of significant regulations in the United States kept the two piece or the bikini from gaining momentum.



The Motion Picture Production Code of 1930, known as the Hays Code or Hays Production Code, prohibited stars from "indecent or undue exposure." Exposure of the breasts, navel, and inner thighs and all undue depiction of flesh was prohibited in an effort to present only a correct standard of life on film. The first actual bathing suits that exposed the midriff would not be seen until the mid 1930’s.



This style change in swimwear was first accomplished by providing the traditional maillot with creatively shaped cutouts. To expose even more skin, X shaped straps were adapted to open the suit’s back. This innovation was subsequently followed by the maillot being divided into two distinct pieces. The waistline however remained high, always above the navel.



Then in 1942, the US government made the L-85 order, issued by the War Production Board, requiring the amount of fabric in clothing be reduced. Wool, silk, rubber, leather, nylon were all needed for the war effort. One requirement was that the amount of fabric in female swimsuits be reduced 10%, and the fabric covering the midriff increasingly became a wartime casualty.  Two-piece swimsuits had been fashionable in Europe throughout the 1930's, the L-85 order helped that trend to become fashionable in the states.



The two-piece would evolve into a just handful of designs without a single one of them dominating. Tops took on the form of bras, string halters, and bandeau's, while bottoms were typically in the form of skirted panties, shorts, or sarongs. Another adaptation was a new skirt less panty bottom but it would not find much of an audience outside of Europe at this time.



At the War’s end while Americans were still trying to accept the high waisted two-piece, a swimsuit that exposed the stomach was introduced in Cannes under the name L’atome. Two weeks later on July 18, 1946 the French designer Louis Reard introduced an even skimpier swimsuit. He also took a clue from the new age ushered in by the atomic bomb blast at a Marshal Island atoll called Bikini and named his creation after it.



By the late 1950’s American movie stars began posing off screen for magazines and postcards in bikinis they could not wear in films. The movie industry began suffering from low film attendance as their products grew more out of sync with cultural demands. Eventually they they replaced the Hayes code with a movie rating code system which had popular support. Stars like Brigitte Bardot in "…And God Created Woman" (1956) helped kick off the trend, while Annette Funicello movies like "Bikini Beach" (1964) and "How to Stuff a Wild Bikini" (1965) helped make the bikini more popular to the masses. In 1967 Racquel Welch appeared in "One Million Years B.C." clad entirely in what would pass for a bikini. The first Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition in 1964 sealed the deal with Babette March in a white bikini. With more exposure in movies and a general shifting of morals during the 1960’s the bikini would finally make its way onto public beaches in the United States. The Hayes commission however still had a hold over television and they would prevent the first woman’s navel from being seen on screen until 1975.