Vintage 1950s Swimwear: Surf Togs and Beaunit Fabric

Vintage 1950's swimwear owes it's molded, corset style to great innovations in textiles suitable for beach and pool. One brand, Beaunit Fabric, produced fashionable satins that could stretch by using elastic fibers.

This industry ad from a spring 1951 issue of "California Stylist" also promotes the "Surf Tog" label, showing a princess seam line strapless swimsuit that would have had a zipper down the center back. It has dress maker details including a cuffed sweet heart neckline with bow and a modest sheath skirt to cover the upper leg.

1963 Swimsuit Design: Rose Marie Reid advertisement

Super cool 1963 swimsuit design with a flirty Flapper look by California designer Rose Marie Reid, whose fabrics and designs forged new silhouettes in traditional swim wear fashions. Her innovative approach for this blouson swim suit pre-dated the bra-less era by nearly 5 years. Her style parallels that of Rudi Gernreich who worked in the same locale at the same time.

Magazine ad reads:
New minimum of maillot that blousons into a stained glass print of Helanca nylon knit! Rose Marie Reid does the look without a bra. Wear it with your own if you still want to after the delight of wearing it au naturel. "Glissando" $25.95. The glowing print by Soptra