Includes bibliographical references (p. 145-158) and index.
Contents:
Machine generated contents note: 1.A Template for New World Fashion -- 2.Testing the Waters: Morality and Undressing the Body -- Revelations -- Decent Exposure: Unisex Style -- Peepholes to the Future -- Spreading the Image: Let me Hear your Body Talk -- Prohibition in the Noughties -- 3.Show and Tell: Popularizing the Swimsuit -- Vaudeville and Mass Urban Entertainment -- Silent Movies -- Hollywood Active Glamour -- Twenty-first Century: Small Screen and Real-world Mermaids -- 4.Body Business: Beauty Made to Measure -- Measuring up to the Classical Ideal -- Training the Body -- Contesting Beauty -- The Cult of the Body -- 5.Going for Gold: Sport and Fashion -- Daughters of the Gods -- Speed on in your Speedos -- National Heroes and Celebrity Athletes -- 6.Shaping Up: The History and Development of the Swimsuit's Integration into the Fashion Industry -- Splash Makers -- Fashion Casts its Net -- Designed in Australia---Made Here and There -- Contents note continued: Riding the Wave of Popularity into the Twenty-first Century -- Speedo and AussieBum: Imprinting the Male Body -- The Aussie Cossie as Reference Point: Water Baby -- 7.Branded Nation: A Place in the Sun -- Gold (Plated) Coast: Glitz, Glamour, Sunshine and the Luxury of Leisure -- Bombora: Surfing into Fashion -- Nation Branding and Fashion.
Summary:
This volume documents the modern swimsuit's trajectory from men's underwear and circus/performance wear to its unique niche in world fashion. It emphasizes the relationship between fashion, media, celebrity, sport and the cultivation of the modern body. This fascinating book provides an historical, sociological and cultural context in which to view how the swimsuit - and Australia, the country that significantly influenced its modern form - migrated from the cultural and colonial periphery to the centre of international attention. In addition, the book offers new perspectives on national histories of the swimsuit and investigates how traditional European fashion centers have opened up to new markets and modes of living, bringing together influences from around the globe.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.