Winter is quickly melting away, taking with it the stacks of coats and jackets that accompany the season. With spring break approaching, students are preparing to live in their swimsuits.
Online shopping carts are full, and styles from last season are being donated or thrown out. Swimwear has undergone dramatic shifts to produce the styles seen today. In fact, few other types of clothing have seen such a broad evolution.
“In the ‘40s, the bathing suits back then were almost like a bloomer-type suit and then the ladies wore the stockings and they covered the whole body,” Florida resident Joyce Martin said.
Even within the past few years, there have been major changes in what the general public deems to be acceptable swimwear.
Buyer and Operations Manager of Rowe Boutique in the Short North, Sarah Jurcyk, spoke on her experience watching styles evolve.
“When I was growing up and I was in middle school and high school, you still had those cute high-waisted bottoms. Boyshorts were very in. Boyshorts with little triangle tops were in,” Jurcyk said.
With each generation comes a new core style that dominates the market. Pivet Showroom, a wholesale destination for women’s apparel in Chicago, recently acquired a new line called LSPACE. Hannah Mummey, a representative for Pivet Showroom, commented on the trends she has seen within the line.
“I noticed with LSPACE there’s a lot of string bikinis back on the line. String bikinis were really popular when I was in high school,” Mummey said.
The consistent pattern is that swimwear has become generally less modest as time goes on. Historically, swimwear was designed to provide as much coverage as possible. Current-day swimwear, however, is much more customizable in terms of coverage.
“One-pieces, when I was younger, were kind of not cool to wear or not very fashion forward, but now there are so many cute one-pieces out there that are adorable, but they’re also good if you want to be covered,” said Mummey.
With the ongoing developments in swimwear trends, there is a lot of conversation about sustainability. Social media has made it very easy for fashion to be marketed in a trendy manner. Styles come and go too quickly for consumers to keep up.
“The sustainability conversation is at the forefront, but it’s not reality. Fashion is not sustainable. We as a consumer can buy less; you don’t need a new bathing suit every year,” Jurcyk said.
With consumers’ high demand for unique trends, markets produce large quantities of bikinis that don’t last very long on the rack. Buyers tend to want different swimwear for different reasons.
“Swimwear as a piece, as opposed to functionality, is major now. I see a rise in creativity but a downfall in quality,” Jurcyk said.
Martin also called into question the practicality of modern-day bathing suits.
“I don’t think you can say the bathing suits or string bikinis right now are functional,” she said.
Fashion has been used as a form of expression for centuries. Now that modesty is less of a limiting factor, swimwear has started catering to consumers that value creative expression in their clothing.
“I feel like I’ve seen event swimwear. You have your everyday swimwear, but there are also really great pieces in our collection that I’m like, oh, that’s great; specifically if you have a summer birthday and you want to be a little extra special in your bathing suit,” Mummey said.
From bloomers to bikinis, swimwear has been constantly adapting since the day it was invented. Given the changes we have seen in the past, it is difficult to predict what the future of swimwear will look like. However, it is possible that future designs will take inspiration from unrelated fashion trends.
“I hope high-waisted bikinis never go away because I love them. But I also feel like with the low-rise denim trends, we’re going to get bikinis that are low-cut as well,” Mummey said.
Others believe modern bikinis are destined for another path.
“I think it’ll go back to more modest bathing suits. Unless we totally go to a nudist colony and everybody runs around nude on the beaches. String bikinis right now don’t leave that much there, so you’re one step away from nudity,” Martin said.
Expectations for future swimwear styles vary across generations. People who grew up prioritizing modesty in swimwear may be less likely to condone present-day, flashy bikinis. However, the market will continue to change based on what the average buyer wants. Considering how quickly trends spread for younger generations, it is fair to assume that young people will have the most notable influence on which new designs will transpire.
“I think that there’s been such an evolution in fashion as a whole in the past decade and a half that did not exist when I was growing up, and it’s really exciting for me to be able to see artists’ and designers’ minds and growth,” Jurcyk said.
