Bathing Suits

One summer day in July, 1889, an eager vacationer bounded from the bathhouse at Capitola and headed down the beach. When the young woman got to the water's edge, she went to lift up her skirt when -- horror of horrors -- she found she had no skirt and was clad only in bloomers.

Dazed, she stood in front of everyone, while half her bathing costume was back in the bathhouse yards away. The girl looked down, started to run back, then swung toward the surf as if to dart into the waves. Finally, she simply sank down in the sand, imploring the crowd for help.

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The rest of the story:

Quickly, women on the beach rushed to her, fanning out their skirts and forming a circle of protection. Finally, a friend ran for the missing garment and the women passed it over their heads to the surf bather, "who put it on, no one knew how."

Capitola boasted that summer that it was visited by an estimated 1200 people "participating in the healthy sport of surf bathing," although only a few actually made it into the ocean. Most sat fully dressed along the shore, their white skin protected by parasols and hats. Except for the one embarrassing incident in July, all those who ventured near the water were all dressed with proper decorum.

Getting into the water was no easy task, especially for women, who had to cast off several pounds of convoluted inner and outer wear before they could even begin to don the Victorian bathing suit costume.

One of the earliest known Capitola beach photographs depicts men covered from their necks to their knees in flannel or wool, while the women were well hidden under long-sleeved, bloused tunics buttoned up the front, cinched at the waist, and worn over baggy bloomers. Inspired by Amelia Bloomer, some of these clumsy bathing suit costumes weighed up to twenty pounds when wet. Caps or bathing bonnets, stockings and laced-up surf shoes completed the traditional ensemble for women. Suits for men were either black or striped, so no one would mistake their attire for underwear.

Capitola vacationers could rent a suit if they needed. The bathhouses provided a dressing room, bathing suit, and towel for a dime in 1890. --Capitola Magazine Spring 1999, p. 25

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