Swimsuit
A swimsuit is an item of clothing designed to be worn by people engaging in a water-based activity or water sports, such as swimming, diving and surfing, or sun-orientated activities, such as sun bathing. Different types and styles may be worn by men, women, and children. Swimsuits can be described by various names, some of which are used only in particular locations or for particular types of suit, including swimwear, bathing suit, bathing attire, swimming costume, bathing costume, swimming suit, swimmers, swimming togs, bathers, cossie, or swimming trunks, besides others.
A swimsuit can be worn as an undergarment in sports that sometimes require a wetsuit or drysuit such as cold water swimming, water skiing, scuba diving, surfing, and wakeboarding. Swimsuits may also be worn to display the wearer's physical attributes, as in the case of beauty pageants or bodybuilding contests, and glamour photography and magazines like the annual Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue featuring models and sports personalities in swimsuits.
There is a very wide range of styles of modern swimsuits available, which vary as to body coverage and materials. The choice of style may depend on community standards of modesty, as well as current fashions, and personal preferences. The choice will also consider the occasion, for example whether it is to be worn for a passive occasion such as sunbathing or for an activity such as surfing or swimsuit competition. Swimwear universally covers at least the wearer's crotch area. According to international standards for social etiquette and swimming functionality, male swimwear usually leaves the upper body uncovered, while swimsuits for females usually cover the chest or at least the nipples.
Materials
Prior to the 1930s, swimsuits were typically made of wool; however, such suits did not hug the body and became heavy with water.Rayon began to be used in the 1920s in the manufacture of tight-fitting swimsuits, but its durability, especially when wet, proved problematic, with jersey and silk also sometimes being used.
In the 1930s, new materials were being developed and used in swimwear, particularly latex and nylon. Swimsuits incorporating nylon dry more quickly then swimsuits made of common organic fibers, which can create a more comfortable experience for the wearer. Swimsuits gradually began hugging the body, especially women's swimsuits.
In the 1960s, spandex began to be used in swimsuits, usually combined with nylon, to make them fit snugly to the body. However, spandex is not particularly strong or durable, especially in chlorinated water in swimming pools and hot tubs.
Polyester is becoming more common as a durable, lightweight fabric for swimsuits, although it is not as stretchy as spandex.
Some companies have started to focus on recycled materials for their swimwear. They are working with companies that transform fishnets, nylon waste, and recovered plastic from shorelines, waterways and coastal communities into textile components.
Swimsuit styles
In Western culture, men's swimsuit styles include boardshorts, jammers, swim trunks, briefs, thongs, and g-strings, in order of decreasing lower body coverage, and women's swimsuits include one-piece, bikinis, or thongs. While they go through many trends in color, pattern, length, and cut, there is not much modification to the original variety of suit.A recent innovation is the burkini, favored by some Muslim women, which covers the whole body and head in a manner similar to a diver's wetsuit. These are an updated version of full-body swimwear, which has been available for centuries, but conforms with Islam's traditional emphasis on modest dress. In Egypt, the term "Sharia swimsuit" is used to describe full-body swimwear.
Swimsuit color affects swimmers' safety. A blue, white, or gray swimsuit may be nearly invisible when the swimmer is underwater, which can make it more difficult for a lifeguard to spot a drowning swimmer. The most visible swimsuits underwater have large, solid blocks of bright neon colors, such as neon pink or neon orange. Solid neon colors are more visible than red or multi-colored swimsuits.
Unisex styles
Women's swimsuits
Men's swimsuits
Body coverage
Swimsuits can be skin-tight or loose-fitting. They are often lined with another layer of fabric if the outer fabric becomes transparent when wet.Swimsuits range from designs that almost completely cover the body to designs that expose almost all of the body. The choice of swimsuit primarily depends on the activity of the wearer, from tight briefs for men for competitive diving and water polo to boardshorts for surfing; although ironically female competitive divers usually wear full one-piece suits while female competitive surfers often wear bikinis. Secondary considerations are personal and community standards of modesty depending on the location and social setting, how much sun protection is desired, and prevailing fashions. Almost all swimsuits cover intimate body parts including genitals and pubic hair, while most except thongs or g-strings cover much or all of the buttocks.
Most swimsuits in western culture leave at least the head, shoulders, arms, and lower part of the leg exposed. Women's swimsuits generally cover at least the areola and bottom half of the breasts.
Both men and women may sometimes wear swimsuits covering more of the body when swimming in cold water. In colder temperatures, swimsuits are needed to conserve body heat and protect the body core from hypothermia.
Competitive swimwear
Swimwear and hygiene
Germs, bacteria, and mold can grow very quickly on wet bathing suits. Medical professionals warn that wearing damp swimwear for long periods of time can cause a number of infections and rashes in children and adults, and warn against sharing bathing suits with others. They suggest that changing out of a wet bathing suit right away can help prevent vaginal infections, itching and/or jock itch.In public swimming pools in France for reasons of hygiene, it is only permitted to wear closer fitting styles of swimwear. Men, for instance, must wear "Speedo"-style bathing suits and not baggy shorts or trunks.
History
Pre-20th century
In classical antiquity swimming and bathing were done naked. There are Roman murals which show women playing sports and exercising wearing two-piece suits covering the areas around their breasts and hips in a fashion remarkably similar to the present-day bikini. However, there is no evidence that they were used for swimming. All classical pictures of swimming show nude swimmers.In various cultural traditions one swims, if not in the nude, in a version in suitable material of a garment or undergarment commonly worn on land, e.g. a loincloth such as the Japanese man's.
In the United Kingdom, until the mid-19th century there was no law against nude swimming, and each town was free to make its own laws. For example, the Bath Corporation official bathing dress code of 1737 prescribed, for men:
It is Ordered Established and Decreed by this Corporation that no Male person above the age of ten years shall at any time hereafter go into any Bath or Baths within this City by day or by night without a Pair of Drawers and a Waistcoat on their bodies.
In rivers, lakes, streams and the sea, men swam in the nude, where the practice was common. Those who did not swim in the nude stripped to their underwear. The English practice of men swimming in the nude was banned in the United Kingdom in 1860. Drawers, or caleçons as they were called, came into use in the 1860s. Even then there were many who protested against them and wanted to remain in the nude. Francis Kilvert described men's bathing suits coming into use in the 1870s as "a pair of very short red and white striped drawers".
File:Punch - Masculine beauty retouched1.png|thumb|Cartoon by George du Maurier in Punch, 1877, showing men's and children's bathing suits
Female bathing costumes were derived from those worn at Bath and other spas. It would appear that until the 1670s, nude female bathing in the spas was the norm, and that after that time women bathed clothed. Celia Fiennes gave a detailed description of the standard ladies' bathing costume in 1687:
The Ladyes go into the bath with Garments made of a fine yellow canvas, which is stiff and made large with great sleeves like a parson's gown; the water fills it up so that it is borne off that your shape is not seen, it does not cling close as other linning, which Lookes sadly in the poorer sort that go in their own linning. The Gentlemen have drawers and wastcoates of the same sort of canvas, this is the best linning, for the bath water will Change any other yellow.
The Bath Corporation official bathing dress code of 1737 prescribed, for women:
No Female person shall at any time hereafter go into a Bath or Baths within this City by day or by night without a decent Shift on their bodies.
The Expedition of Humphry Clinker was published in 1771 and its description of ladies' bathing costume is different from that of Celia Fiennes a hundred years earlier:
The ladies wear jackets and petticoats of brown linen, with chip hats, in which they fix their handkerchiefs to wipe the sweat from their faces; but, truly, whether it is owing to the steam that surrounds them, or the heat of the water, or the nature of the dress, or to all these causes together, they look so flushed, and so frightful, that I always turn my eyes another way.
Penelope Byrde points out that Smollett's description may not be accurate, for he describes a two-piece costume, not the one piece shift or smock that most people describe and is depicted in contemporary prints. His description does, however, tally with Elizabeth Grant's description of the guide's costume at Ramsgate in 1811. The only difference is in the fabric the costumes are made of. Flannel, however, was a common fabric for sea bathing costumes as many believed the warmer fabric was necessary in cold water.
In the 18th century women wore "bathing gowns" in the water; these were long dresses of fabrics that would not become transparent when wet, with weights sewn into the hems so that they would not rise up in the water. The men's swim suit, a rather form-fitting wool garment with long sleeves and legs similar to long underwear, was developed and would change little for a century.
In the 19th century, the woman's double suit was common, comprising a gown from shoulder to knees plus a set of trousers with leggings going down to the ankles.
In the Victorian era, popular beach resorts were commonly equipped with bathing machines designed to avoid the exposure of people in swimsuits, especially to people of the opposite sex.
In the United States, beauty pageants of women in bathing costumes became popular from the 1880s. However, such events were not regarded as respectable. Beauty contests became more respectable with the first modern Miss America contest held in 1921, though less respectable beauty contests continued to be held. Miss America ended its swimsuit competition in 2018.