Swimsuit

[citation needed] Rayon began to be used in the 1920s in the manufacture of tight-fitting swimsuits,[2] but its durability, especially when wet, proved problematic,[3] with jersey and silk also sometimes being used.

They are working with companies that transform fishnets, nylon waste, and recovered plastic from shorelines, waterways and coastal communities into textile components.

A recent innovation is the burqini, favored by some Muslim women, which covers the whole body and head (but not face) in a manner similar to a diver's wetsuit.

These are an updated version of full-body swimwear, which has been available for centuries, but conforms with Islam's traditional emphasis on modest dress.

Secondary considerations are personal and community standards of modesty depending on the location and social setting, how much sun protection is desired, and prevailing fashions.

[22] Most swimsuits in western culture leave at least the head, shoulders, arms, and lower part of the leg (below the knee) exposed.

Both men and women may sometimes wear swimsuits covering more of the body when swimming in cold water (see also wetsuit and dry suit).

Some swimsuits are designed specifically for swimming competitions where they may be constructed of a special low resistance fabric that reduces skin drag.

Most competitive swimmers wear special swimsuits including partial bodysuits, racerback styles, jammers and racing briefs to assist their glide through the water thus gaining a speed advantage.

Starting around 2000, to improve the effectiveness of the swimsuits, engineers have taken to designing them to replicate the skin of sea-based animals, sharks in particular.

The new policy was implemented to combat the issues associated with performance-enhancing swimsuits, hindering the ability to accurately measure the performance of swimmers.

Drag suits are swimwear with an outer layer of looser fabric – often mesh or nylon – to increase resistance against the water and build up the swimmer's endurance.

[30][31][32] In public swimming pools in France for reasons of hygiene, it is only permitted to wear closer fitting styles of swimwear.

There are Roman murals which show women playing sports and exercising wearing two-piece suits covering the areas around their breasts and hips in a fashion remarkably similar to the present-day bikini.

In various cultural traditions one swims, if not in the nude, in a version in suitable material of a garment or undergarment commonly worn on land, e.g. a loincloth such as the Japanese man's fundoshi.

Francis Kilvert described men's bathing suits coming into use in the 1870s as "a pair of very short red and white striped drawers".

Celia Fiennes gave a detailed description of the standard ladies' bathing costume in 1687: The Ladyes go into the bath with Garments made of a fine yellow canvas, which is stiff and made large with great sleeves like a parson's gown; the water fills it up so that it is borne off that your shape is not seen, it does not cling close as other linning, which Lookes sadly in the poorer sort that go in their own linning.

[34]The Expedition of Humphry Clinker was published in 1771 and its description of ladies' bathing costume is different from that of Celia Fiennes a hundred years earlier: The ladies wear jackets and petticoats of brown linen, with chip hats, in which they fix their handkerchiefs to wipe the sweat from their faces; but, truly, whether it is owing to the steam that surrounds them, or the heat of the water, or the nature of the dress, or to all these causes together, they look so flushed, and so frightful, that I always turn my eyes another way.

In the 19th century, the woman's double suit was common, comprising a gown from shoulder to knees plus a set of trousers with leggings going down to the ankles.

[39] The 1907 Sydney bathing costume protests were carried out in Australia after an ordinance was proposed that would have required males to wear a skirt-like tunic.

In 1935, a similar ordinance was proposed, requiring males to wear the Spooner bathing costume instead of the 'disgraceful' swim trunks.

In 1907, the swimmer Annette Kellerman from Australia visited the United States as an "underwater ballerina", a version of synchronized swimming involving diving into glass tanks.

Kellerman changed the suit to have long arms and legs and a collar, still keeping the close fit that revealed the shapes underneath.

Louis Réard, a French automobile engineer and clothing designer, introduced the modern two-piece bikini on July 5, 1946.

From the 1960s on, the bikini shrank in all directions until it sometimes covered little more than the nipples and genitalia, although less revealing models giving more support to the breasts remained popular.

[15][16] Gernreich's revolutionary and controversial design included a bottom that "extended from the midriff to the upper thigh"[17] and was "held up by shoestring laces that make a halter around the neck.

[39] Since the early twentieth century a naturist movement has developed in western countries that seeks to enjoy non-sexual nakedness when swimming and during other activities.