“shape-insurance”…the Jantzen specialty of the house…makes these the most exciting swim suits of 1954. They mould you in beautiful lines, hold you in beautiful lines…when the suit is wet, when the suit is dry…and the shaping power goes on forever.
This Jantzen ad from 1954 is a great example of how swimwear is influenced by fashion. In the corseted 1950s, even your swim suit had built-in shaping. Imagine these suits with a matching skirt. You could go from the pool to the dance floor. And that’s a much nicer cover-up than an old tee shirt, wouldn’t you say?
I could do with some of those!
Fabulous illustrations. 🙂
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It is amazing to me that while so many modern gals think that Marilyn Monroe’s “healthy curves” were the norm back in the 1950s, we have evidence right here that the perfect female form illustrated in these ads was still quite tiny, waist-wise! In reflecting on the fashions in the past 100+ years it’s amazing how malleable the female body is supposed to be, based on the fashions of the day, and those who naturally had that body shape were lucky if it coincided with what was popular!
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I find it funny that so many people have the misconception that Marilyn Monroe was big, while the reality is that, although her weight fluctuated through the years, she was always quite small. Curvy yes, but due to proportions of a tiny waist and relatively wide hips and bosom in comparison. She represented the “desirable” body in the 1950s the same way a model from Playboy would do for our current times, very different from the ideal body in the fashion world (which has always been smaller and more slender!).
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Several years ago I saw a Ceil Chapman dress that Monroe wore on her honeymoon with Joe DiMaggio, and was so shocked at how tiny it was. Curvy, yes, but very tiny.
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She still represents the “desirable” body today – and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!
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The other day I had a woman come into the vintage shop I work at how sneered at our selection of vintage swimsuits, saying she was so glad for modern ones. Saying that the styles back then were unflattering! But as this ad shows, and you mentioned shaping, and thus flattering the body, was key!
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Unflattering?? That is mad! I am a bit chubs and my gorgeous black 1950s one piece sucks me in, covers the flabbby bits and gives me a waist, unlike crappy modern paper-thin suits that look terrible on me, not to mention disintegrate after one season.
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That is mad. Nothing does the body right like a 1950s swimsuit.
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Love the far left one…also..don’t know if you are an Ebay fan, but spotted something I thought was right up your street – gym wear from 1930s and very pretty – worth just seeing..hope I wrote the no. down right – 1318657216. Is from the ‘Gamewin’ label and they ship worldwide…
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Thanks for that ebay number!
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Oh, they would look fabulous with a matching skirt!
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Yes, they really would.
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Hi mom! I would really love one of these swimsuits! Love, Nora
Sent from my iPad
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