Men and Boys' Swimwear Fashion - A History

Popular perceptions

We imagine cavemen in furry nappies, ancient Egyptians in loincloths and Victorians in striped long underwear. In the minds of most people, that's what constitutes men's and boys' swimwear fashion over the centuries. The reality, of course, was somewhat different.

The ancient world

The Egyptians, Phoenicians, Persians, Greeks and Romans all had swimming as part of their culture. However, evidence of how men's and boys' swimwear looked varies considerably. In southwest Egypt, the 'Cave of Swimmers' wall drawings, thought to be some 10,000 years old, depict nude swimmers; not much fashion there then. However, other pre-Christian art shows men swimming in robes and long billowing trousers, so there was no consistent style of swimwear in the ancient world.
The dark and middle ages

In Europe, the art of swimming was not much practised after the collapse of the Roman Empire. Water was unsafe to drink, and people thought that swimming in the stuff would invite plague. There's even a theory that people did not swim because to show you could float was evidence that you practised witchcraft!
The first swimwear styles

It wasn't until the 1840s when mixed bathing became acceptable in Britain that the first bathing costumes appeared for men. However, because swimming was not yet deemed suitable for children, there was no boys' swimwear fashion at this point. Men's swimwear in the 1840s consisted of colourfully striped short-legged drawers with a drawstring at the waist. This swimwear fashion was imported from France where mixed bathing had existed since the late 18th century. However, a key design flaw - the drawers had a habit of falling off - caused the market to move to a new design: a one-piece with a short-sleeved top and short-legged bottoms. Often the outfit had a broad horizontal striped pattern, which is what many of us imagine, correctly it turns out, was the fashion in Victorian times.
The 20th century

The advent of paid leave for the working man and comprehensive railway networks allowed whole families to take sea-side holidays for the first time. Swimming came to be seen as a recreation and something in which children could participate. This change in attitude created a market for boys' swimwear, which mimicked men's designs. After the first world war, it became fashionable to have a tan, so men's and boys' swimwear lost the sleeves - the tops morphed into a singlet style with narrow shoulder straps - and became shorter in the leg.Knitted wool became common, and in the 1930s, the top half of the outfit disappeared perhaps influenced by the 1932 'Tarzan the Ape Man' film starring a bare-chested Johhny Weissmuller. After the second world war, swimwear fashion started to evolve once more. New man-made fabrics such as latex and lycra made the costumes more like a second skin, and the number of colour combinations exploded.
Modern trends

In continental Europe in the 60s and 70s, the diminutive 'Speedo' style costume took off (figuratively speaking). In Anglo-Saxon countries, fashion went in the other direction from the 1990s. Men's and boys' swimwear covered up more of the leg down to or even below the knee. This Speedos v Boardies clash of styles has even been the source of political strife. In many European countries, local governments have banned board shorts, Bermudas and the like in municipal swimming pools because of hygiene concerns. In 2007, one local authority in Belgium was accused of imposing the rule in order to dissuade Muslims - presumed to want to dress more conservatively - from using its pool. The other big recent innovation is the development of body-covering sun protection swimwear. Through the use of lycra and new finishing techniques, 'rash vests' and one-piece body suits have appeared on the beaches providing 50+ UPF sun-blocking properties.