Beach It Vintage Style: The History of the Diving Girl Swimwear

RECOGNIZE THIS DIVING GIRL? 

She's from the notorious and very vintage swimwear label 

Jantzen!

Here's an original label from the 1930's

 Here's a peek at one of their original woolen suits:

She's been diving for years! With summer officially just around the corner its time to begin the hunt for a vintage swimsuit, bikini, or cover up to round out your throwback vintage beach look. Here's some inspiration for you:

Vintage swimwear has a unique history all its own. Did you know that there were actual regulations on the length of swimsuits you could wear in public during the 1920s and 1930s and that they were mainly made of the worst and most uncomfortable fabric ever? Yes, it was wool. Woolen swimwear was all the rage during these periods and while most shoppers from today believe that they “were so cute with their little shorts” they don’t realize that swimsuit designers were forced to make them that way to hold to the laws put down on them. Yep – even the lifeguards on duty maintained a measuring tape to measure the length of any naughty lady who wanted to wear even shorter and more revealing swimwear. He had the privilege of banning them from the beach! I bet being a lifeguard was not such a glamorous job in those years. Here's a peek at a real vintage lifeguard:

Then, the vintage Diving Girl made her way onto the scene. You may even recognize her as she has been on the label of Jantzen swimwear since the 1910s and still dives on, even today over 100 years later.

Jantzen swimwear originated out of Portland, Oregon where they were a wool knitting company who was approached by the Portland Rowing Team in search of creating the perfect bathing suit for those chilly Portland morning practice sessions. That, in turn, created a frenzy of love with the product created by the company and orders galore followed. Jantzen was even the first company that coined the phrased, “Swimming Suit” as opposed to “Bathing Suit” and in a huge marketing ploy around 1921 they even advertised, "The Suit That Changed Bathing to Swimming". 

The Jantzen swimwear company went on to being one of the first to manufacturing in other countries and carried with that its original designs. They were the first company to create a two piece swimsuit, the bikini, where it was introduced in France in 1946. By the 1950’s business was booming even more when the directors decided to add girdles and other active wear to their line of products. The company changed hands several times during 1990’s early 2000’s and is now officially owned by Perry Ellis and puts out swimwear for Nike and Jag.

The vintage beach scene paved the way to what we still like to sport on the beach today – flirty skirt cover ups and big sunglasses with straw hats. Swimsuits that cover but are still appealing to the eye. Thanks to companies such as Jantzen, we can still relate to that vintage diving girl and wear a bright red one piece swimsuit with pride.

Hopefully this will give you some vintage beach encouragement to grab some gal pals and doll up to invade the beach and look like THIS: 

Love vintage style? Make sure to follow me on Facebook for more inspiration! You can also tweet with me on Twitter, pin with me on Pinterest, Keep Away amazing items on the hot shopping app, Keep.com, or follow my photos and selling feed on Instagram! 

And you can ALWAYS shop with me on ETSY by visiting my shop HERE. 

Have a GREAT summer 2015 from this Vintage Stylist!