Vintage Swimsuits in Action

Its Monday people! Today I thought I'd share some images of people in action, exercising and having fun in vintage swimwear. All of these ladies and gents look so fabulous in their glamourous vintage swimsuits.

Look at that form fitting swimsuit and the cute little ruffles that help to accentuate certain areas of your body.

This one by Jantzen has a wing bust, pretty fabulous in itself but what about that sash, crown and gloves? Can you do that while water skiing on the shoulders of a muscle man?

Perhaps this is more your style, a little laid back, but the guys are getting strong! Whatever you do, get out and do it today! I'm putting on my walking shoes.

Vintage Swimwear - 1940s Illustrations

 1943

Today we share a couple of vintage 1940s illustrations of gals in vintage swimsuits. I love the one with the small elephant toy and check out those shoes in the top illustration. Sorry I'm not versed in either of the languages, but I can appreciate a swimsuit clad beauty any day.

Vintage 1950s Striped Swimsuit

1950s Striped swimsuit for lounging. Look at how the lines of this vintage swimsuit accentuate the bust line, Va-va-voom baby!

Vintage 1930s B.V.D. Bathing Suits and Swimwear

We've written about BVD swimwear, ok we always write about swimwear. Today we take a closer look at bathing suits from BVD.

This ad features Surf Suits from BVD in 1932, how clever, modeling bathing suits after evening gowns and marketing by a new name. 

1932 BVD Surf Suits with Evening Gown Backs

A partial snippet of the above 1932 BVD ad.

From Palm Beach to Bar Harbor spread the news of a great revolution in bathing suits. BVD did it. Low cut backs, bathing suits as smart and as flattering as the latest evening gowns. Pearl knit or ripple-knit, high waist and grand lines around the thighs.

1937

Starlets wearing and promoting the BVD bathing suits

1938

I love the BVD logo, a little seahorse with glasses!

BVD stands for Bradley, Voorhees & Day, the founders names. They were the first company to produce bustles for women. Over the course of the years women's items were introduced, swimwear being one of them. Unfortunately today, only men's items are being produced from BVD which is now owned by Fruit of the Loom.

Marilyn Monday Vintage Bikini

It's Monday, and we at Glamoursurf are wishing you a week filled with wonder! We'll be taking the rest of the week off so see you again next Monday! Cheers!

Vintage Sunglasses

I've always been a fan of vintage sunglasses, particularly ones with striped frames.This first pair from 1954 are just divine. I'd pair them with that fabulous striped swimsuit (I think) she has on from 1955.

 1954

1955

But then again, Ray Bans are always a good choice for a lens.

Happy Friday the 13th!

Vintage Chanel Sports Costume Swimsuit Fashion Paper Dolls

This weekend I picked up a paperback book of Chanel Fashion Review Paper Dolls in Full Color by Tom Tierney.There are some pretty fabulous illustrations to share.

Left: Sports costume for Diaghilev's ballet Le Train blue, 1924.
Right: Sports costume for Le Train blue, 1924. 

Left: The first beach pajamas, which broke the taboo against women wearing slacks and made them a fashion item, 1929.
Right: Black silk crepe evening dress trimmed with black ostrich feathers and matching feather cape.

One of Chanel's few wedding dresses, a satin gown exemplifying her genius at using white as a glamour color, 1931.

Left: Columnar accordion-pleated gown enhanced by crystal beading, with a cape trimmed in chinchilla, 1938.
Right: "Gypsy Look" evening gown from Chanel's last collection before the fall of France and the closing of her salon, 1939.

There you go, do you have a favorite?

Vintage Swimwear from 1943

This is an early magazine snapshot from 1943 featuring Esther Williams, Lynn Bari, Evelyn Keyes and Jean Parker. I would bet my last dollar that the swimsuit on Esther is from Catalina, same on Lynn. Jean is wearing a Jantzen bikini and my guess is Evelyn is also in a Catalina. Love the shoes as well! Happy Monday all.

The Jantzen Shouldaire Swimsuit of the 1930s

We've been looking at early Jantzen advertising this week, particularly the Jantzen Shouldaire swimming auit from the early 1930s. Here's another ad for the Shouldaire and the illustration shows the straps off and held in place behind the neckline. A pretty cool invention for the early sun worshipers.

Vintage Jantzen Swimsuit Advertisement of Loretta Young 1932

As a follow up to our blog post yesterday on Glamoursplash with another wonderful vintage 1932 Jantzen Swimsuit advertisement for the Jantzen Shouldaire swimsuit. The 1932 ad shows the lovely Loretta Young in the classic shouldaire sun suit swimsuit. The swimsuit was created for even tanning, you could drop the shoulder straps so as not to get tan lines. Fabulous invention.

Jantzen Debuts the Shouldaire Sun Suit - Vintage Swimsuit Advertisement from 1930

Jantzen created the Shouldaire swimming suit in 1930. Tanning and sunning became a huge fad after Chanel came back from her European travels with a healthy glowing tan. How smart was it for Jantzen, a leading swimwear manufacturer at the time, to develop and produce a 'new' style of swimsuit to match the craze. Introducing the Shouldaire, the sun suit which has extra straps to tie so you could let down the shoulder straps of your bathing suit for tanning. Just one of the many ingenious products they launched to keep abreast with the times. I love that she's reading a magazine which just happens to feature another of their fabulous ideas, The Red Diving Girl.