Let's start with a very brief history of the swim cap. During the early 20th century swim caps were made of rubberized fabric. By the 1920's they were being made of latex. During the 1940's swim caps became scarce as rubber was needed for the war effort. A girl was lucky if she had a swim cap to protect her wave hair style during that period.
1940's photograph by Horst P. Horst1950's glamour is captured at the beach with women donning various colored and textured swim caps. Hair was an important part of the 1950's look and no woman wanted to get her locks wet while swimming so swim caps came back into vogue.
Anne St. Marie 1950's Vogue
Many styles, textures and color offerings were made available in a wide assortment so one could match the swim cap to the swimsuit.

By the 1960s colorful flower petal swim caps were the rage and made by such companies as Kleinerts, Platex, Jantzen and Howland to name a few.

Now-a-days swim caps don't only protect your hairstyle, they protect your hair from harsh chemicals found in pools and the damaging suns rays. We've just listed some Fabulous vintage swim caps over at
Glamoursurf. Swim on over and visit us!
1 comment:
Hi there, just stumble across your blog while googling ideas for my shop for 50's day, what a neat idea you have! I love your pics can't waht to explore the blog!
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