Illustrated Timeline Shows the Evolution of Women’s Swimwear

This new illustrated timeline comes to us from Lulus.com, a women’s fashion company based in California, and shows the fascinating evolution of swimwear over time. From classical antiquity to modern day, swim suits for women have gone through some significant changes. Over time, women’s swimwear have gone from fully nude to fully clothed to the bikinis and one-piece swimsuits you commonly see today. Without further ado, here is the evolution of female swimsuit styles.

Click below to zoom

Starting off in the 8th to 5th century BCE, you’ll notice the featured swimwear style is not unlike swimsuits you might see today. Over the next one thousand years (up until the 16th century) swimwear remained scantily clad or even nonexistent. It was in the 17th century, however, that things made a dramatic turn to a prudish approach to swimming. And things didn’t get and less prude for quite a few hundred years! Women often swam fully clothed in what looked like night gowns in the 17th and 18th century, and evolved into bathing outfits with loose fitting pants and blouses that covered nearly all of the woman’s skin.

In the 20th century, skin started to make its debut once again. In the western world, showing more and more skin became commonplace as one and (eventually) two piece bathing suits emerged. If you visit a public beach or public pool today, you can expect to see a wide range of swimsuits on women. It makes one think: what will women’s swimwear look like in another hundred years?