How Swimwear Evolved in Fashion Photography: 1920s to 2000s

How Swimwear Evolved in Fashion Photography: 1920s to 2000s

Swimwear editorials through the decades reveal fashion’s fascinating evolution, and the progression in attitudes about how women should dress.

For the world’s wealthiest, summer is a place to which you can simply travel. This is why the fashion industry revolves around a collections calendar that includes “resort” shows, in addition to the bigger seasons of spring and fall.

These shows were originally intended to offer beachwear and swimwear for people spending their winter vacations in the tropics with Mai Tais instead of at home salting their driveways.

And they explained why, over roughly the last century, Condé Nast magazines like Vogue and Glamour pushed swimwear in the dead of winter in addition to the spring and summer months.

Here, take a look back at our archive of swimwear editorials through the decades.


1920s

In the mid-twenties, swimwear began appearing more prominently in Vogue. But, the best of what fashion offered would make a modern beach-goer recoil.

The bikini hadn’t yet been invented, and these suits were made of fabrics like taffeta. Here, a model wears more breathable jersey tights, albeit with taffeta ruffles. 

Vogue Swimwear 1925
Image via Edward Steichen/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

For a scene of a luxurious beach picnic, models enjoy not only real porcelain dishes, but also silk fabrics, which were more the European style according to FIT.

Beach Fashion 1925
Image via Edward Steichen/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

In another beach-lounging scene, we have two women playing with a doll, which is perhaps even more retrograde than all that fabric they’re wearing.

Beach Fashion 1926
Image via Edward Steichen/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

Here, a model poses on a bathrobe that matches to her silk jersey suit. What, you’re not wearing silk to the beach? No slippers, either?

1928 Swimwear
Image via George Hoyningen-Huene/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

Here, a wool jersey option in Vogue.

1927 Swimwear
Image via George Hoyningen-Huene/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

1930s

In the thirties, FIT tells us, health and fitness became more of a thing, and women were encouraged to do specifically “feminine” exercises—swimming among them. 

With swimming becoming popular, tanning also became a hobby, and designers started making suits that wouldn’t lead to tan lines.

Hence, in 1932, Elsa Schiaparelli patented a backless style with a bra built into the front. Swimwear was becoming skimpier, though still hardly skimpy by today’s standards. A Kardashian/Jenner’s go-to, these were not.

The suit prominently featured here is in a two-piece jersey style by premiere swim designer of the day, Jean Patou.

1930 Swimwear
Image via George Hoyningen-Huene/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

In 1932, Vogue featured a sporty red one-piece on its cover in an iconic image hearkening to women competing in swimming events in the Olympics.

Vogue Cover 1932
Image via Edward Steichen/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

In February 1934, we see a backless style, this one in rubber (which you wouldn’t swim in today, but rubber-like latex has had its moments in fashion over the last decade or so).

Swimwear 1934
Image via John McMullin/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

As the thirties progress, so does fashion photography. Photos begin to pull back to reveal clothing in greater context, as in this July 1936 Vogue editorial.

Swimwear 1936
Image via Toni Frissell/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

And, fashion’s favorite trick—taking clothes out of context—becomes apparent at this time too. As in this April 1938 image of a model in a bathing suit in the snow in Sun Valley, Idaho.

Skiing in Bathing Suit
Image via Toni Frissell/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

1940s

Horst P. Horst was one of the most famous edgy fashion photographers of the twentieth century, and contributed this cover to Vogue—arguably one of the most striking in the magazine’s history—in the new decade, featuring a Swedish woman considered to be the first supermodel, Lisa Fonssagrives.

Vogue 1940 Cover
Image via Horst P Horst/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

In the early part of the forties—and among its least significant consequences—WWII split the American and European fashion industries.

Here’s an American two-piece by Franklin Simon on the cover of Glamour—along with stunning headlines like “Slimness Through Mere Posture.” 

Vogue Cover 1942
Image via John Rawlings/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

Also in Glamour, in June 1946, we see a style that would soon be obliterated by the bikini.

1946 Swimwear
Image via Serge Balkin/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

According to FIT, the first bikinis came out in the summer of 1946. Wait, you might be thinking, didn’t we just see a bikini on the cover of Glamour?

You might call it that today but, at the time, it wasn’t technically a bikini—a bikini was much skimpier, with higher legs and a celebratory mini-ness previously unheard of. But, bikinis didn’t saturate the pages of Vogue or become more broadly accepted by society until later. 

Vogue was still more in maillot mode, as in this June 1947 cover.

1947 Vogue Cover
Image via John Rawlings/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

1950s

The 1950s weren’t exactly loosey-goosey, but the female form was being celebrated in fashion. The industry also experienced post-war growth in ready-to-wear, and Vogue editor-in-chief Jessica Daves used the magazine as “a vehicle to educate the public taste.” 

The hourglass shape we see in this December 1952 Vogue photograph, shot on the beach in Chile, is emblematic of the day. Improving from the wool styles of decades earlier, this printed bathing suit is in a cotton fabric.

1952 Swimwear
Image via Richard Rutledge/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

A subdued sexiness begins to take prominence in photography at this time. Here’s a grape-eating model in Vogue’s January 1953 issue.

1953 Swimwear
Image via John Rawlings/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

And a cover that, were it not for that 50-cent price tag, feels timeless.

Vogue Cover 1953
Image via John Rawlings/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

With the war well in the past, shooting in far-flung locations could become more routine. Here, a prim and proper poplin swim look photographed in Morocco for Vogue’s November 1953 issue.

1953 Swimwear
Image via Roger Prigent/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

Studio work also took on a new polish. Around this time, Vogue was competing fiercely with Harper’s Bazaar (which, in 1955, printed Richard Avedon’s “Dovima with Elephants,” one of the most famous fashion photographs ever taken).

Here’s Horst again for a January 1954 fashion editorial:

1954 Swimwear
Image via Horst P Horst/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

A more youthful look of the fifties graced the cover of Mademoiselle, “The magazine for smart young women.” Here, the signature cut of the fifties takes shape in a joyous floral print on a beach I wish I was at.

Mademoiselle Cover 1956
Image via Mark Shaw/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

By the late fifties, Daves’s reign at Vogue was nearing its end. She had popularized American sportswear, known for its simplicity and practicality, as seen in this January 1958 editorial.

1958 Swimwear
Image via Richard Rutledge/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

But Daves wasn’t know for being terribly chic herself, helping to explain the appeal of her successor, Diana Vreeland.


1960s

Vreeland came to Vogue from Harper’s Bazaar, and imposed her fantastical sensibility on the pages in a way that defined the era.

Take, for instance, this January 1966 editorial of Maria Benson, barefoot in a lycra bikini on a rockface in Arizona.

Model Marisa Berenson
Image via John Cowan/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

If Daves was considered safe, Vreeland was anything but, the absence of clothes defining her work as much as their presence.

Here, a January 1968 editorial shot in St. Martin.

Swimwear 1968
Image via Arnaud de Rosnay/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

In the sixties, the model Veruschka—an early one-name fashion icon—came onto the scene, appearing regularly in Vreeland’s Vogue.

Here, she is in June 1968, indicating that the days of Daves’s American sportswear are firmly behind Vogue.

Model Verushcka
Image via Franco Rubartelli/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

In July of 1968, Veruschka appeared once more wearing nothing but a gold chain as swim bottoms with blue hair extensions carefully arranged on her back.

1968 Swimwear
Image via Franco Rubartelli/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

If you’re looking at the above photo and thinking, What the hell is going on there? You wouldn’t be alone. Condé Nast was having questions about Vreeland’s fanciful approach around this time, as well.

After all, how are you selling clothes to the average American woman when you don’t even dress your models in them? And, when you do, they appear to be communing with dishes on the beach?

Occasionally, Vreeland reined it in, as in this 1969 image of Carol La Brie.

Model Carol La Brie
Image via Bert Stern/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

But restraint was quickly sidelined by images like this of Veruschka from the January 1970 issue.

1970 Swimwear
Image via Franco Rubartelli/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

1970s

In 1971, Vreeland was fired and Grace Mirabella became editor of Vogue. She had to make the clothes more practical in this era of career women. Before she took over, this August 1970 editorial hinted at that new direction.

By 1973, Mirabella’s vision was established, and the imagery in Vogue took on a new relatability. Beverly Johnson, who became the first Black model to appear on the cover of Vogue in 1974, modeled swimwear in this May 1973 shoot.

Model Beverly Johnson
Image via Kourken Pakchanian/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

Mirabella, who faced criticism that she was boring when she started the job, still had fun with her pages. Here’s a scene that feels almost normal by today’s standards, but wasn’t so common at the time, of a model shopping in a bikini in a Miami drugstore, from a July 1973 issue of Vogue.

1973 Swimwear
Image via Kourken Pakchanian/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

Beverly Johnson appeared again on the beach of Rio de Janeiro for a simple, yet appealing, editorial in Vogue’s December 1973 issue.

1973 Swimwear
Image via Kourken Pakchanian/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

By the middle of the decade, the stylized model group shot took on new relevance, as in this May 1975 Deborah Turberville editorial.

Models in Swimwear
Images via Deborah Turbeville/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

Mirabella’s All-American sensibility was on display in this June 1976 shot taken in Palm Beach.

1976 Swimwear
Image via Arthur Elgort/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

But, sex appeal hadn’t left the building, as seen in this June 1977 Vogue story, featuring a male model as a prop behind Peggy Dillard.

Model Peggy Dillard
Image via Guy Le Baube/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

The era of the super model is foreshadowed at this time, with Christie Brinkley beginning to appear in Vogue, as in this April 1977 shoot.

Model Christie Brinkley
Image via Arthur Elgort/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

1980s

The eighties were all about conspicuous consumption—big hair, big shoulders, and ferocious fabrics. Swimwear was likewise bold, as seen in this Norma Kamali one-piece on Carol Alt in Vogue’s November 1983 issue.

Model Carol Alt
Image via Horst P Horst/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

The next month, we have Horst again photographing two models who couldn’t look more eighties if you draped gold chains around their necks.

The image is also indicative of Mirabella’s restraint, despite the trends of the time. She was reluctant to include anything in Vogue that didn’t fit into a working woman’s life.

1983 Swimwear
Image via Horst P Horst/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

The eighties also marked the end of a certain way of working. Condé Nast was hardly budget conscious, and editors could go to far-flung places with a photographer and model for a week just to shoot something beautiful.

Here’s a May 1984 editorial shot in Hawaii.

Model Renata Vackova
Image via Arthur Elgort/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

Toward the end of the eighties, Mirabella’s tenure was coming to a close. We see hints of her trying to meet the decade’s vibe, as in this April 1987 editorial. The Missoni-printed bathing suit is bold, as are the layered necklaces.

Model Rachel Williams
Image via Arthur Elgort/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

But, Mirabella never quite synced with flash, and she was replaced in the middle of 1988 by Anna Wintour, who remains editor-in-chief of Vogue today.

Wintour’s Vogue was meant to be both practical and elevated, and her tenure ushered in that of the nineties and the supermodel. She loved color and vivaciousness, as captured here in a photograph of Carre Otis taken in Palm Beach for a February 1989 issue. 

1989 Swimwear
Image via Arthur Elgort/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

And, in March of 1989, Wintour ran this swimwear editorial that looks almost like something you might see more recently (perhaps without the leggings under the bathing suit).

Model Jenny Howarth
Image via Arthur Elgort/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

1990s

In the nineties, the Supers ruled both the fashion industry and popular culture. The look was sexy—Baywatch had begun airing in 1989—and Wintour’s Vogue paired their desirability with a certain relatability.

Not through the clothes of course—most women couldn’t afford those. But perhaps readers could relate to Christy Turlington in other ways, as in this December 1992 editorial.

Model Claudia Schiffer
Image via Arthur Elgort/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

Or, in this May 1993 editorial.

Model Christy Turlington
Image via Arthur Elgort/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

In the April 1995 issue, Vogue ran perhaps its most famous swim editorial up to that point, of twenty-one-year-old Kate Moss shopping in bathing suits and high heels.

By the late nineties, Gisele had come on the scene. She was seen as having an unusually athletic body type in this era of the waif. So, naturally, she was thrown into swim features, like this April 1999 one, where she wears Speedo bottoms and a Prada jacket.

Model Gisele Bundchen
Image via Arthur Elgort/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

Here, she’s in the same issue, serving, as they say.

Model Gisele Bundchen
Image via Arthur Elgort/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

2000s

In the late nineties, magazines were overtaken by celebrities. Supermodels who came up during this time were often part of the Victoria’s Secret Angels, such as Czech face Karolina Kurkova, seen here in December 2000.

Model Karolina Kurkova
Image via Arthur Elgort/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

Kurkova was an unusual model who, like Gisele, could straddle commercial (Victoria’s Secret) and capital-F Fashion jobs (Prada). She was something of a go-to for swim editorials during the aughts, appearing in the June 2002 issue in a Western inspired spread.

Athleticism and happy portraiture was seen across the Condé Nast portfolio pre-recession, as in this September 2005 portrait of tennis star Serena Williams.

Tennis Pro Serena Williams
Image via Arthur Elgort/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

Vogue sent Fabiola Beracasa and Elizabeth Hui to do cannonballs into the sea for the March 2008 issue.

Fabiola Beracasa and Elizabeth Hui
Image via Arthur Elgort/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

This was taken before the economy cratered in the 2008 recession, forever altering the magazine landscape. Vogue’s dominance would continue, but for most magazines, their time in the sun would come to an end as Instagram came to dominate the fashion image economy.


Cover image via John Rawlings/Condé Nast/Shutterstock.

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