Women being arrested for wearing one piece bathing suits, 1920s

Vintage Wonders Mar 10, 2025
In Chicago, a woman is being arrested for defying a Chicago edict banning “abbreviated bathing suits” on beaches. 1922.

Wearing what would seem to us like quite conservative swimwear today, the women were being detained for violating a restriction on public wearing of their ‘short swimsuits’.

Early in the 1900s, modesty rules were quite rigid and mandated that most women wear stockings in addition to long one-piece clothing.

The mayor of Atlantic mayor, New Jersey barred even the males without shirts from the beaches since it did not want “gorillas on our beaches”.

Swimming evolved throughout this period from being more about joy than health. Early in the 1900s, women’s swimming suits were heavy with high necks, long sleeves, skirts, and pants.

Many times they were composed of wool. Legal bans on the one-piece bathing suit brought to public notice by swimmer, vaudeville, and movie star Annette Kellerman occurred in some places of the United States.

Two bathers being escorted off the beach by a policewoman. Chicago, 1922.

Kellerman, who had adopted a costume from England, comparable to men’s swimsuits of the period, was detained on a Boston beach in 1908 for indecent exposure since her swimsuit displayed arms, legs, and the neck.

Kellerman modified the costume to have a collar and extended arms and legs, but maintaining the snug fit that highlighted the forms beneath.

Chicago policewomen checking for violations of the bathing suit-length laws. 1922.

The form-fitting approach proved popular despite criticism from some groups. Swimwear began to shrink even further not long ago. Arms were first seen; later, legs up to mid-thigh.

Necklines dropped from about the neck down to roughly the top of the bosom. New fabrics let for new kinds of more practical and comfortable swimwear.

Women’s swimwear’s necklines sank in the back by the 1930s, sleeves vanished, and sides were tightened and chopped away.

As new fabrics—especially latex and nylon—developed throughout the 1930s swimsuits started hugging the body with shoulder straps that could be dropped for sunbathing.

“Smokey” Buchanan from the West Palm Beach police force, measuring the bathing suit of Betty Fringle on Palm Beach, to ensure that it conforms with regulations introduced by the beach censors. 1925.
A policeman measuring the swimming costumes of women on the beach in the 1920s.
Women found to be breaking the rules were either asked to leave the beach or made to cover up.
Washington policeman Bill Norton measuring the distance between knee and suit at the Tidal Basin bathing beach after Col. Sherrill, Superintendent of Public Buildings and Grounds, issued an order that suits not be over six inches above the knee. 1922.

(Photo credit: Library of Congress).

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