The world of women’s bathing suits, swimming and swimwear developed throughout time with the expectations of making bathing an enjoyable social experience. (Kidwell, 117) While the focus of my advertisement draws on the bathing accessories women bought and wore in 1914, it opens up the entire realm of morality and modesty in that age. I will touch on the social, political and cultural implications of the advertisement I chose and ask why things were the way they were not so long ago. While researching this advertisement, I’ve realized that everything is relative. No wonder women wore dresses nd shoes while swimming.
They weren’t even given the capability to learn to swim. The expectations from the early 1900’s are so different than what they are today that we need to realize that they were in a completely different mindset. On the surface, the advertisement I chose is about women’s bathing accessories, but as we dig deeper, we can see that it deals with women’s equality. Women once wore shoes, hats, and bathing dresses to swim in. A bathing dress alone weighed about 30 pounds when wet, aside from the accessories that women felt obliged to wear.
Women were not expected to swim in that attire, they were xpected to bathe. Carter, 223) This advertisement for swim accessories at Macy’s was made during a time of change. The fact that women were expected to wear all of this attire in the water confirms the fact that women were not expected to swim as of 1914, but instead to bathe for social pleasure. Women were starting to learn to swim athletically instead of standing in the water socializing. (Kidwell,118) This was not only the turning point for women’s clothing and swimwear to become less restricting, but also the time for athleticism and for women to stand up for themselves and gain equality.
This ad was written 6 years before the 19th amendment to the U. S. constitution was ratified, the amendment that gave equal voting rights to women. Back then, it was illegal for a woman to vote. I guess it doesn’t surprise me that we were wearing dresses in the water. In reality, though, “back then” was only 79 years ago. America was free but not equal. This poem about female swimmers in the 1920’s written by Grantland Rice depicts the male perception of women’s ability as a whole: With the women in their swimmin’ Turning Records into wrecks With the ladies raising hades
In a matter quite complex, With their biceps getting stronger Where their strides are getting longer In about four generations Who will be the weaker sex? (Kidwell,120) It sounds like this man is scared that women might someday gain the same treatment as men. Rice is talking about the physical characteristics of women, but you can take it one step farther and see the last 2 lines in the poem as his own insecurity as to where women would be in four generations, which, ironically, is right now. I am exactly four generations from the man who wrote this poem and it seems completely bsurd that anyone would say such a thing.
If someone told me to wear shoes, a hat and a dress while swimming, I’d wonder what planet they came from. In reality, here in America, women were expected to wear those things while swimming just 85 years ago, right here, not on a different planet, or even in a different country. I can’t imagine growing up with the expectation that I couldn’t do as well in life as a man could, or that I couldn’t wear a two-piece without people thinking I was walking around in my underwear. Culturally, the people that grew up in this time did live on a different planet.
When it comes to expectations and behavior, we are on opposite ends of the spectrum than we were just 85 years ago. This Macy’s ad demonstrates not only the fact that women were not equal to men in the eyes of the law but also the fact that there were different classes, just as there are today, and that Macy’s had something for almost anyone’s price range. From my perspective, the social aspect of this advertisement leans on the difference between social classes.
The wealthy women probably wore the expensive front and side lace shoes that cost $2. 4 and the silk and satin fancy caps or hats that were $3. 4 instead of the $0. 23 caps and the $0. 29 canvas shoes that the women with little money had. The prices seem humorous compared to the prices you would pay for a pair of shoes today. The cheapest pair of canvas shoes you could find would be about $10, ranging from in the hundreds. For a nice pair of pumps, you could pay anywhere from $20 to thousands of dollars. Socially, I think being poor in 1914 was looked down upon considerably more than it is today. The different social classes were not expected to intermingle.
Today, people from all different backgrounds, cultures and aces attend the same schools and churches. In conclusion, the only way I can really analyze this advertisement is to put myself back in that time, but it is impossible to imagine myself in that position. All I can do is compare the time of the advertisement to the present, and wow- it was different. Like I said before- it would be like living on a different planet, with a dissimilar culture and very strange rules to follow. I’ve often wondered if it would have been better to live back then, but in my perspective, I’m glad I am where I am on the timeline of eterninty.
