Alternative Media Group

Aussie swimwear’s revealing history

Author:

Angus Thompson

Posted:

Thursday, 2 July 2009

Aussie swimwear’s revealing history
Although modest by today’s standards, the bikini hit Australian shores in the late 1940s with a wave of controversy.
Gold Coast swimwear pioneer Paula Stafford drew the ire of beach inspectors all along the East Coast, landing some women who modelled her designs in trouble with the law.
Now 89-years-old Ms Stafford says she still can’t see what all the fuss was about. “I’d been wearing these two-pieces since I was 16. Before they were called bikinis I was wearing them,” she said.
“I just thought ‘what were they on about?’”
Since Ms Stafford’s designs were unleashed to the public more than half a century ago, for Australian women the bikini has become the closest thing to a national dress.
“There’s so many people who love the beach or the pool or the water. There are so many designs of swimwear and I think everybody’s got a couple in their wardrobe, or a couple of dozen,” said Ms Stafford.
The National Maritime Museum in Darling Harbour is documenting the evolution of the Aussie cossie in the exhibition Exposed! The story of swimwear, launched on July 2, showcasing several of Paula Stafford’s designs from the 1970s.
While showcasing everything from 19th century cover-all outfits, when men and women bathed separately, to Borat’s ‘mankini’, the exhibition pays special tribute to early 20th century swimmer and vaudeville star Annette Kellerman.
Championed as “Australia’s mermaid”, Kellerman flaunted figure-hugging swimsuits at a time when modest couture dictated a far more voluminous dress.
As a tribute to Annette Kellerman, the Maritime Musuem has called on contemporary Australian designers like Seafolly, Zimmerman and aussieBum, and legendary figures like Paula Stafford, to reinvent the one-piece as part of the Woollen Mermaids exhibition.
Exposed runs until October 25 before touring nationally.

Exposed! The story of swimwear documents the history of Australia's national dress.

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