Splash! A Century of Swimming and Style

Innovative exhibition at the Design Museum looking at all aspects of design for swimming.

This show combined many types of design from performance wear, through fashion and architecture and social change. It was cleverly divided into sections based on where people swim, pool, lido and in nature. It covered both sporting and leisure aspects of swimming.

I liked that it covered such a lot of ground and was designed with sustainability front and centre. However, at times it was hard to match the objects to their labels and in one case I tracked it down to he opposite side of the display case.

My favourite objects were the swimming costumes, and the show explained changes in technology and design well. It was of course fun to see celebrity items like Pamela Anderson’s Baywatch swimsuit and Tom Daley’s Speedos alongside a jumper he’d knitted.

Favourite fact? That the bikini is named after  Bikini Atoll, site of American nuclear test explosions!

Closed 17 August 2025


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