There are numerous styles of swimsuits offered now, only made possible through the evolution of the swimsuit. Styles varied through different time periods and fashion trends.

Swimwear in the 1800s had the primary goal to cover a woman’s body with little skin showing possible, consisting of belted dresses worn over baggy bloomers or undergarments.

In the 1900s this style evolved to include shorter dresses, starting to show more of a woman’s leg. In 1907 a woman, Annette Kellerman, wore a one-piece bathing suit and was arrested for indecency.

In 1910 swimsuits started to feature a relaxed style with raised hemlines and dropped necklines, with weights sewn in the bottom hem of the dress to prevent floating or flying up.

During the roaring 20s is when undergarments were not being worn under a bathing suit, changing the style to resemble more modern one piece bathing suits. The style resembled a one piece with a shorter hemmed skirt and tank style sleeve. During this time they also started enforcing dress code for women through the “beach police” that measures for skirt length above the knee.

By the 1930s the swimsuit started to tailor the suits, creating more of a form-fitting style. The previous swimsuit styles were featured in wool fabric, which was replaced by cotton and rayon for a better form-fitting suit.

The first two-piece swimsuits and women were allowed to expose their midriff at the beach and in 1946 the bikini was invented. The high-waist style bottoms was also created through this new look.

In the 1950s the emphasis of curves started along with more high-waist fashion, the underwire top also debuted to emphasize assets. The fabric used for swimsuits also changed to nylon and elastic, giving suits a better stretch while drying faster.

In the swinging 60s during the sexual revolution, swimsuits started to be made with less material with low-cut bottoms. The new popular trends included boy shorts and bikini tops.

During the 1970s the bikini top was the standard swimsuit option and was a popular trend. Other popular trends included wearing caftans for a cover-up and the bandeau tops for bikinis.

The 1980s and 1990s had popular swimsuit trends in bright neon colors. Another development in the swimsuit was high cut bikinis and the infamous ‘Baywatch’ red bikini became popular.

The current style is a variety of different cuts and prints, to create any kind of bathing suit possible. Check out the video above to see all the swimsuit variations that contributed to the modern style swim suit.