Résumé
Résumé de Costumes de bain et de natation pour femmes aux États-Unis
Go deeper: the whole of Costumes de bain et de natation pour femmes aux États-Unis
About 1 h 10 min to read.À qui s’adresse-t-il ?
You will enjoy this book if you love fashion history, social history, the story of sport and leisure, museum objects, or the small everyday things that show how a society changed its mind.
De quoi parle ce livre ?
What did a woman wear to enter the sea in 1800, and how did she get from that heavy gown to the light knitted suit of the 1920s? Claudia Brush Kidwell asks exactly this in her study of women's bathing and swimming costume in the United States. She follows the garments from colonial days to the present.
She sets gowns, catalogs, fashion plates and newspaper jokes side by side. You will meet George and Martha Washington at a Virginia spring, Annette Kellerman in tights and Adeline Trapp swimming through Hell Gate. The first idea is easy to miss. Bathing and swimming are two different activities.
Dans ce résumé
- 1Bathing and swimming have separate historiesFree
- 2Springs and seashores turned bathing into pleasure
- 3The first bathing gown was made for dipping
- 4Drawers and trousers arrived but skirts stayed
- 5Late century styles got shorter and looser
- 6Swimming had to win acceptance for women first
- 7The knitted swimming suit overtook the bathing dress
- 8Industry and advertising shaped the modern suit
Point clé 1 sur 8
Bathing and swimming have separate histories
Kidwell begins by pulling two words apart. Bathing means putting the body in water for cleaning, healing, pleasure or religion. Swimming means pushing the body through water. Greeks and Romans joined the two, valuing swimming as training for warriors and the public baths as places to meet.
Then the habit faded. Many grand baths were destroyed, and some people believed outdoor bathing spread epidemics. Swimming survived as a practical skill among soldiers and sailors. Nicolas Winmann printed the first known book on swimming in 1528. Early swimming books took a practical view, treating swimming as a skill for survival. These books were written for men.
Bathing returned in the seventeenth century as medicine, when doctors praised springs and later seawater. A garment for healing dips has no need to let the arms and legs move. A garment for a swimmer does.
Bathing and swimming had different purposes, and purpose decides dress.
That’s 1 of 8 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
- Nothing to pay today · Renews every year
- We email you before you pay
- Cancel online in two clicks
Take this summary with you
Send to Kindle downloads the file and opens Amazon's page: drop the file there.
Go deeper: the whole of Costumes de bain et de natation pour femmes aux États-Unis
About 1 h 10 min to read.Paperback, hardcover and large print, printed for you at cost, are on their way.Email me when it is printed
Questions about Costumes de bain et de natation pour femmes aux États-Unis
What is Women's Bathing and Swimming Costume in the United States about?
It traces how women's water clothing changed from heavy colonial bathing gowns to the modern swimsuit, and links each change to fashion, modesty, health ideas, sport and the growing freedom of women in American life.
What is the difference between a bathing suit and a swimming suit?
Kidwell explains that bathing dresses were skirted, fashionable garments for wading and dipping, while swimming suits were close-fitting knitted garments made for movement. The two existed together for about fifty years before the swimsuit won out in the 1920s.
What did Martha Washington's bathing gown look like?
It is a blue and white checked linen gown at Mount Vernon, shaped like a chemise, with lead disks sewn near the hem to keep it down in the water. It was practical rather than decorative.
Who was Adeline Trapp and why does she matter?
Adeline Trapp was a Brooklyn schoolteacher who in 1909 became the first woman to swim through Hell Gate in New York's East River. Her one-piece knitted suit drew public attention and sharp criticism, showing how attitudes were shifting.
Is this book worth reading for fashion history?
Yes for anyone curious about costume, because it is a compact study built on real objects, catalogs, magazines and advertisements. It shows clearly how clothing choices reflect changing ideas about women, sport, health and modesty across two centuries.
Cite this edition
Kidwell, Claudia Brush. Women's Bathing and Swimming Costume in the United States. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/womens-bathing-and-swimming-costume-in-the-united-states.
Kidwell, C. B. (2026). Women's bathing and swimming costume in the United States. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/womens-bathing-and-swimming-costume-in-the-united-states (Original work published 1968)
Kidwell, Claudia Brush. Women's Bathing and Swimming Costume in the United States. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/womens-bathing-and-swimming-costume-in-the-united-states.
@book{kidwell2026womens,
author = {Kidwell, Claudia Brush},
title = {Women's Bathing and Swimming Costume in the United States},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/womens-bathing-and-swimming-costume-in-the-united-states},
note = {First published 1968}
}
