bjgreen
(Image: Ida Schnall in “Way Back When: Santa Barbara in 1916,” photo courtesy of Wikipedia)
By Betsy J. Green
Although many of the bathing suits worn by women in 1916 looked like knee-length prom dresses, women who actually wanted to swim, wore more sensible one-piece knitted suits. The one-piece suits were more revealing than the fluffy outfits, of course. Ida Schnall, a “Flying A” actress, was hailed as having “a perfect figure” — 34-24-40.”
Betsy’s Way Back When book — 1919 — is now available in local bookstores and at Amazon.com. This is the sixth book in her series of the history of Santa Barbara, one year at a time. Learn more at
Skin tight, surprises me for back then.
If anyone back then saw a bikini they would suffer ‘the vapors”. Somewhere here I have a great-aunt’s swimming suit, with a dress even. Scratchy material.
Woo woo!!!