Riviera Style

A few weeks ago now I went to the Riviera Style exhibition at the Fashion Museum on Bermondsey Street in London. It's a really great exhibition, displaying swimwear from the end of the Victorian era until today. It's a thoughtfully currated exhibition with some truly beautiful and genuinely interesting pieces on display. The thing that struck me most was the apparent speed with which people went from modestly covering as much flesh as possible on a trip to the beach to super glam, surprisingly slinky bikinis. Apparently, this is a result of the popularisation of sunbathing in the 1930's. Before this, the outfits had been exclusively for bathing. I also think it has a lot to do with radical changes in society; attitudes towards women in particular and I think that it is in no small part thanks to that generation of  bright young things who were challenging old fashioned conventions.  

As ever, the early to mid twentieth century appealed most to me, but here's a selection of photos I took  throughout all of the ages on display. It's only on for a couple more weeks, so get there if you can!