Fashion lovers can dive in to a new exhibition showcasing 100 years of beach fashion – curated by a De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) academic.
Dr Christine Boydell, DMU design historian, is the guest curator of Riviera Style, the
London Fashion and Textile Museum’s summer-long show.
It celebrates fashion at its most fun, with swimsuits, sarongs, beach pyjamas, playsuits, bikinis and burkinis alongside iconic vintage travel posters.
Opening with clothes from the 1890s, when doctors prescribed days at the beach as a health cure, the exhibition tells the story not only of fashion but also our changing attitudes to modesty and of social change.
It also sheds new light on the manufacturing processes and the changing materials used by designers and fashion houses. Famous Leicestershire brand Symingtons, whose corsetry expertise found a new outlet as a swimwear manufacturer, features heavily.
Dr Boydell said: “A key feature of the items selected is the importance of material from early examples to produce the perfect fabric that did not bag or sag when wet to more recent technical developments designed to improve fit and increase speed in the water.”
Dr Boydell’s last exhibition at the museum on fashion label Horrockses Fashions led to a national resurgence of interest in the brand.
She has included some of their designs for beach wear in Riviera Style which are among her favourite pieces.
Others personal favourites include a Symington’s ‘Peter Pan’ swimsuit in a dainty pink print, a swimming costume designed by supermodel Jerry Hall and modern menswear brand Orlebar Brown’s use of iconic prints.
“Swimwear tells many different stories about society,” she explained. “In the 1920s, for example, women did not wear trousers but the beachwear allowed them to do so. Beach pyjamas became sophisticated evening wear.
“In the 1960s, swimming costumes were named after Spanish resorts to reflect the British love of package holidays which were growing in popularity, so we include swimwear named ‘Majorca’ for example.”
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The exhibition, organised by the Fashion and Textile Museum, delves into the extensive archives at Leicestershire County Council, Lancashire County Council, private collections, fashion magazines and trade journals. More than 200 objects are included in the final show.
Celia Joicey, head of the Fashion and Textile Museum, said: “Thanks to the UK Manufacturer R and WH Symington Ltd and Leicestershire County Council, the UK is guardian to one of the world’s most significant collections of swimwear.
“We are delighted to be showing these rare examples in London for the first time, and to make them accessible to as many people as possible. In collaboration with Newham College and DMU, we hope the exhibition will illuminate past and present swimwear fashions, and inspire future design directions in the industry.”
Riviera Style: Resort and Swimwear since 1900 opens on May 22 and runs until August 30.
Posted on Friday 22 May 2015