The latest in stylish bathing dresses
Now that foreign holidays are so greatly curtailed, bathing is likely to assume a much greater popularity than has hitherto been the case. The sea is always with us, and consequently we have preferred mountains, lakes, or forests. Now that we are driven perforce to the sea we are likely to appreciate more what is to foreigners one of the greatest attractions of this country.
It is our neglect of this great advantage which has caused us also to neglect the business of bathing dresses. There was a time when feminine modesty demanded that a bathing dress should be unspeakably ugly. Only then was bathing considered a suitable diversion for the well-brought-up young lady. Well-brought-up young ladies have changed, but their bathing dresses have not changed very much with them. Generally speaking, the Englishwoman has a suitable dress for every kind of amusement, but as far as bathing goes nothing is too slipshod, nothing too greatly lacking in taste.
There is the other extreme, of course. It includes a parasol, a box of face powder, and a glass of Dubonnet, to revive one from the exhausting process of not getting wet. It should be possible, however, to strike a mean, and to look as well in the water as on the land.
Material counts for a good deal in a bathing dress, and it should not be too thin. If it is to be cotton, twills, poplins, thick crêpes, or cotton tricot are best. But better than any of these are woollen and silken materials. Heavy silk is expensive but it makes an admirable garment, pleasant to feel and having nothing of the drowned look of most bathing dresses when they come out of the water.
The Colour Question.
Colour is also an important consideration, since it changes so much in the water. For grown-ups there are few shades so becoming as a dead black or blue. Dead black satin looks well both in and out of the water, and thick crêpe-de-Chine is also becoming. Failing these, black poplin is charming, and certain kinds of taffetas do not lose their crispness even in the sea. On coming out of the water a bathing dress should keep a certain crispness – this is almost impossible except with taffetas or thicker woollen stuffs, – or it should go into really becoming folds as does crêpe-de-Chine. Of thicker materials, some good swimmers have a tight-fitting, woollen, knitted bathing suit. This has a firmness and consistency which is rather comfortable. Other people use very thin, fine cloth, dull in texture, with cut, not hemmed, edges. In dead black this looks very well against a white skin.
Really good swimmers cannot, of course, do much with petticoats, however short. Their substitutes – frills rather like those on a clown’s trousers – are not usually very satisfactory when they are wet. A skirt is nevertheless very pretty, and need not hamper the moderate swimmer, while for the mere splasher it is rather a boon. An inoffensive skirt can be managed by wearing a tunic to the knees over a very short pair of knickers – rather on the principle of the little boy’s smock and knickers. Or it may be all joined up together, though this arrangement is not so good for drying and pressing. Tunics are being made this year reaching to just above the knees and folded in two or three wide box-pleats to give them spring. They are finished off with a sailor collar – white piqué, white taffetas, and white flannel come in here very usefully according to the material chosen.
Head and Heels.
The cap should be chosen with the greatest care to pick up the suit. Generally speaking the Phrygian caps that come over the ears keep the water out better than anything. Whatever style is preferred the cap should be in the brightest colours, and almost any colour can be chosen, since the rubber does not change much in the water.
Shoes and stockings provide a difficult question. Certainly it is much more comfortable to bathe without either. Foreigners, on the other hand, do not understand our custom in this respect, and a number of English people are conforming to the foreign fashion. If they are worn, it should be made quite certain that there is no hiatus between the short knicker and the stocking. Sandals look as pretty as anything, especially if they are bound round the ankle criss-cross fashion.
For children the prettiest possible suits are little woven costumes, quite tight-fitting, very short, and in very bright colours. It is also possible to get charming little suits in dark blue or black picked up with lines of some bright colour. Children, in distinction to grown-ups, almost always look pretty in the water, and the tight-fitting suit prevents anything of their prettiness being lost.
