Sports and Leisure

These stretch nylon swimming trunks by Jantzen are decorated with a blue and red arrow pointing suggestively to the crotch area, and exemplifying the new-found sexual freedom of the 1960s. No longer tied to the constraints of wartime shortages and restrictions, youngsters in the 1960s sought freedom of expression and the "free love" that has traditionally been associated with the Hippy movement.

Men's swimwear of the 1960s like this, and like the camouflage trunks shown below, obviously differed significantly from the costumes worn at the turn of the century. During the 1890s, for example, men bathed in woollen combinations, or combined t-shirts and trunks, covering most of their bodies. By the 1960s, young men at least were choosing to wear skimpy trunks rather than swimsuits, as pioneered by film stars like Sean Connery as James Bond, who famously wore short, figure-hugging swimming trunks in the 1962 film "Dr. No". In America, the rock & roll legend, Elvis Presley, also wore similar trunks in the beach movie, "Blue Hawaii".

Full item descriptions:

"bathing costume & swimming trunks" [1989.190], Jantzen
"bathing costume & swimming trunks" [1990.8], St Michael, Marks & Spencer

Related Themes:

Men's Swimwear Since the 1960s