I’m currently documenting a lot of my swimwear collection and whenever I find a few examples of a label, it’s very tempting to look into it a bit more – when I found several Jantzens, made in Australia (as opposed to the big American label) I wanted to know more: is there any garment more Australian than swimwear?

So here’s a little about Jantzen in Australia, who are still a market leader in swimwear today.

Jantzen began in Portland, Oregon USA in 1910 as a knitwear company, introducing swimwear by 1918. They added the famous ‘diving girl’ motif to their styles in 1920, and she changes with the times so is a useful to tool for dating their swimsuits. In her earliest incarnations she’s wearing a cap, stockings and boots!

Perhaps inspired by the success of local company Speedo, Jantzen opened up an Australian company in 1928, building a new factory in Parramatta Road, Lidcombe (it’s still there, heritage-listed Art Deco but currently looking sad). These two adverts, from 1928 and 1929 evidence the quick change of focus from practical results-focused sportswear to flattering fashion styles, as demand rapidly picked up and we headed to the beach.

Interestingly, these adverts demonstrate an unusual sizing system: “your weight in street clothes is your size”. These were the days before standardised sizing, where companies created their own. But that’s a new one on me so I delved a little deeper: your weight converts to a size. From a 1928 advert:

So you see that an average woman (for the time) would likely be a size 38. I’ve always thought that was a bust size, so we learn something new every day.

The adverts also invite you to send in for ‘windscreen stickers’ and apparently they were very popular. Great, easy marketing tool in those pre-social media days.

Here’s an early ’30s American cotton knit swimsuit that I bought from Glamoursurf to fill a gap in my collection. The straps are really long, and can be worn many ways, as seen in the following ‘Ashdowns’ advert (1933).

In 1934 Ashdown’s were promoting the new ‘Basque Kerchief’ style. It’s similar to a swimsuit in the Loel Thomson Collection (now at MOVE) that I photographed years ago – and behind you can see a nice Jantzen with a wavy stripe trim and belt.

As a point of difference, the Australian-made swimsuits were made of Aussie wool, also available in an exclusive shade just for us – ‘Ocean blue’. I wonder if this was it on the left?

Like other sportswear, the history of swimwear is the history of fabric technologies – and by the late ’30s, we were tiring of the limitations of cotton and wool knitted swimsuits; they tended to sag, lose their shape, or take quite a while to dry. Wet wool is also heavy, has a particular smell and is unpleasant to swim in.

So new fabrics were being introduced with more stretch and resilience: rubber (‘lastex’), and rayon acetate. ‘Velva-Sheen’ in the advert above was made of these materials and promoted for what it could do for your figure, shaping and flattering. It was described as ‘soft, superfine, silky chenille’ and this suit from my collection might fit the brief. It also might be ‘Ocean blue’, a colour perhaps recommended for blondes in their ‘Jantzen Color Harmony Guide’ (see above).

This swimsuit, in the collection of Sydney’s Sea Museum looks like it might be Velva-Sheen, probably in the shade they called ‘royal’. It’s so glamorous and shapely, you almost don’t need to bring your own movie-star figure. I’d happily wear this down the beach.

I think of the 1930s as the heyday of beach fashions but Jantzen went from strength to strength as the century continued. The 1940s continued the glamour theme.

So far I haven’t found any ’40s Jantzens in the stash (I’ll update if I do) but there have been a few ’50s styles including this elaborate American petal-bust, fully boned style circa 1950 (also acquired from Glamoursurf)

And perhaps most decadently, this luxurious ruched lace strapless number: perfect for your martini pool party (and now happily living its best life with a Circa customer).

Could it be this one from a 1956 article? Imagination needed, the photo is terrible.

I’ll finish with a couple of more recent swimsuits: a late 1960s and an early 1970s. The latter was photographed at the swimwear parade at the 2010 Wintersun Festival. I snaffled it at the local op shop on the day before, gave it a quick handwash and voila! You can see how the diving girl has really simplified and trimmed down over the years.