Costume Drama ; Hermione Eyre Is On a Quest for the Perfect Swimwear. From a 1920s 'Suicide Suit' to a Brancusi-Inspired Swimming Cap, She Charts Her Life in Lycra

Summary

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We live in an immodest age. We do not go down to the waves in stripey huts on wheels - rather a shame, I think, since Victorian 'bathing machines' have always sounded fun for a ride, the Stannah stairlifts of the seas - but we must count ourselves lucky we do not have to wear wool to the beach any more.

In the mid-1920s, Vogue declared 'the newest thing for the sea is a jersey bathing suit, as near to a maillot [French leotard] as the unwritten law will allow'. This makes said suit sound like quite a liberated, daring item - far from the cold, wet, scratchy truth.

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Costume Drama ; Hermione Eyre Is On a Quest for the Perfect Swimwear. From a 1920s 'Suicide Suit' to a Brancusi-Inspired Swimming Cap, She Charts Her Life in Lycra

I had to wear one once as a child, on the Venice Lido, filming a period drama set in 1927. It was a bit like an old-fashioned strongman's suit, a scoop-necked vest with a skirt concealing a generously cut pair of shorts. ...

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