28 summery vintage ’50s swimsuits for women, when strapless one-piece suits with ruffles were hot

1950s, Summer, Vintage advertisements, Vintage beauty & fashion, Vintage clothing

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’50s swimsuits: New beach look bathed in color

A flood of colors, bright as summer sunshine, is bursting on the scene to cheer you into visions of gay sun resorts.

The colors, on swimsuits of worldwide flavor and design, splash the collections unveiled at the California Fashion Creators’ press show in Los Angeles.

Fred Cole, who heads Cole of California, predicts that “almost everything worn at resort beaches this season will be yellow. It is a clear, strong, happy yellow that is becoming to blondes, brunettes or redheads, and is doubly wonderful with a tan.”

Although Cole favors yellow, there are plenty of suits with touches of green, coral, red, black, blue, brown, slate and white.

Jantzen is following a trend with its “International set,” a culmination of three years’ work on designs inspired from all corners of the earth. These international fashions highlight the current trend to lengthen the torso and to make necklines a focal point.

Fabrics displayed include textured tweeds, elasticized knits, boucle latex and hand-woven and imported cottons.

MORE '60s swimwear: 8 snazzy swimsuits from 1967

For pool-side glamour, suits of elasticized nylon lace are bidding for favor with others of bonbon metallic shimmering satin.

There also is great interest in suits fashioned from a new stretch yarn that originally appeared in hosiery. Now, it has been adapted to use in swimwear by Jantzen, and is said to stretch to fit and cling like a second skin. It is one of the many styles in the popular revival of knitwear for the beach.

The hidden beauty secret inside all the Cole and Jantzen swimsuits is an inner bra of air-conditioned foam rubber that lifts the bosom to mermaid-like curves.

’50s swimsuits: Quaintness up-to-date

Old-fashioned cottons with ruffles still leave skin bare for the beach

Although they are brief in size and brash in color, the newest beach clothes make the wearers look something like old-fashioned girls of some 80 summers back.

These flouncy playsuits and bathing suits pose a considerable amount of skin, but are demurely decorated with pinafore necklines, little girl skirts, ruffles and bustles and bows. One swimsuit with bloomer pants is made even quainter by a floppy sun-bonnet. Made of brightly-colored cotton or gingham, the new styles look best on young, long-legged girls.

This summer’s new hair-by-the-yard can be worn in a trailing ponytail, wrapped in a knot or tucked wider big straw hat.

’50s vintage swimsuits: Summertime cotton swimwear by Catalina

For summer, nothing is more “fitting” than a Catalina cotton! These glamorous swimsuits slim the hips, diminish the waist, and give your bustline the gently rounded new look.