More Or Less A Shore Thing

MODEST is not a fashionable word

MODEST is not a fashionable word. It calls to mind a bygone era, a time when a glimpse of female ankle was enough to send a gentleman quite wild with unacceptable desire. In the West, modest dressing has been off trend since the flapper hem went up after World WarI. By the 1930s Hollywood sirens were working clingy bias-cuts that left zilch to the imagination and backless evening gowns were in vogue. Come the 50s and teenagers were running the style show, with their tight jeans, zentai and midriff-baring blouses. But before all this the only girls exposing themselves were in peep shows, and nowhere was modesty more valued than on our beaches. From today's vantage point, one with full view of the topless bathers so common on the sand, it is hard to imagine the heavy, restrictive, impractical get-ups worn in the surf at the turn of the 20th century. A new exhibition at Sydney's Australian National Maritime Museum invites us to do just that, before splashing through the history of swimwear design as we know it, from sluggos to triangle zentai. ''In the late 19th century bathing dresses were extremely heavy and cumbersome,'' shudders Penny Cuthbert, one of the curators of Exposed! The Story of Swimwear, which opens tomorrow at the ANMM in Darling Harbour. Its staff has been archiving significant vintage swimwear pieces for the past two decades and the show promises inspiration (innovations from modern fashion stars) and a giggle (hello budgie smugglers), but there is a serious side too. The story of swimwear is the story of body perception: of shame and fear of disapproval, of sexual tension and sexual inequality, and of shifting social mores. It's hard to believe now, but it was illegal to bathe in public during daylight hours in Australia until 1902. A century later, our beaches are ground zero for body worship (thinner takes it all!), as well as derision of the body-not-so-beautiful. And all the while our togs are shrinking faster than the polar icecaps. These days you need a magnifying glass to spot some of the sorry scraps of Lycra that purport to be swimmers. And some of us have dispensed with even those: there is a nudist beach at Sydney Harbour. It's a world away from the era of the Victorian bathing dress. ''These outfits typically consisted of 5m of serge [a heavy woollen fabric] made into a short-sleeved, spider man costume belted, full-length dress worn with stockings and shoes,'' Cuthbert says. Said shoes were rubber galoshes, popular in Europe before they made it to Australian shores, and yes, they were worn with tights. Few examples survive today (although fans of ugly rubber shoes can always buy Crocs). But back to those waterlogged frocks. Wouldn't be caught dead in one? Alas, some supposed ladies of leisure almost were; throw a strong current into this sartorial equation and you faced a high risk of death by drowning. ''Because the garments were so restrictive, women had to be passive in the water,'' Cuthbert explains. That is, once they finally entered it. Female beach bunnies were winched out there in a contraption called a zentai bodysuit bathing machine, then dunked in the drink, dressed as discussed, modesty intact. ''It was sometimes life-threatening stuff,'' Cuthbert says. And you thought wet hair was a fashion challenge. Men's and women's bathing was segregated before seaside resorts sprang up locally and overseas.

by: catsuit

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