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July 1942. Washington, D.C. "Sunday at the edge of the municipal swimming pool." Medium format nitrate negative by Marjory Collins for the Office of War Information. View full size.
I remember reading that Clark Gable brought about the end of the undershirt by not wearing one in It Happened One Night. Maybe he brought about the end of the swimsuit that covered the torso?
Or maybe it was the war effort, saving on the cost of fabric. Women's skirts shortened appreciably between the thirties and forties, too (as they did pre- and post WWI.)
While this is 1930 and Canadian, men's sleeves and covered legs have already vanished.
She's so young and sweet and happy it hurts my heart a little. Her affectionate boyfriend looks older -- perhaps he was in the service. She looks like she'd gladly stay right there with him forever.
My very thoughts, too. Or it seems as though he has two left hands. He must have tucked the Thing hand underneath himself to avoid the head of smoking lady close to him on the far side. I know if I contort myself into such a position while sleeping, I wake up with massive pins and needles in that arm.
It seems to me that until the mid-1930s, men's swimwear usually covered the upper torso. By 1940, as this photograph shows, swimming trunks had mostly replaced the old-fashioned suits. Why did the fashion change so suddenly?
I had to study this to mentally attach the random idle hands to the correct arms belonging to the couple in the foreground. It was a challenge; at first I thought they'd brought Thing Addams along just for kicks and giggles.
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