Riviera Style: Resort and swimwear since 1900

Delightful exhibition at the Fashion and Textile Museum looking at clothing worn in and by the sea, looking at how design fabric and attitudes to exposing the body have changed since the late 19th century.

From the title I had assumed this would be about high fashion and mainly continental but it was more about the history of British holidays and was so charming. The design was really clever with two great set pieces of a Lido downstairs and a beauty queen line up upstairs. As you walked in their was a lovely line up of outfits from the turn of the 19th century, real bathing belles!

The show was full of ladies reminiscing about how itchy knitted bathing costumes were and I bonded with a lady of a similar age over a 1960s ruched number which I had in blue and she’d had in red!

I couldn’t work out at the first why so much had been leant by Leicester Museum Service as it seems to be a county a long way from the sea! But gradually I realised it is because they must have the archive of one of the biggest manufacturers and in fact they had organised the exhibition! 

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