Sports and Leisure

Specific costumes designed for wearing whilst relaxing on the beach (but not for bathing itself) became popular for fashionable, wealthy women in the 1920s and 30s. Usually known as beach pyjamas, they were loose and casual two- or three-piece suits, intended for lounging about in public in the heat of summer. Flowing beach suits and cruise pyjamas were an early opportunity for women to wear trousers, although they were often cut so wide and loose that at first glance they seemed like long skirts.

Typically, these suits were made of light coloured cotton, linen or sometimes silk, and they were often embroidered with an anchor as an allusion to the seaside or the navy . This cream linen suit is trimmed with bold contrasting scarlet and white cotton printed with anchors, and it is a stylish outfit, retailed by "Becker et fils" in the Rue des Jeuneurs in Paris and described in its label as "le luxe pour la mer". Following the Second World War, beach suits became shorter, skimpier and bolder but still popular for promenading in seaside resorts, and for wearing over a dry bathing costume.

Full item descriptions:

"beach suit & pyjamas" [1947.2527], Becker fils

Related Themes:

Beachwear