Wednesday 16 March 2011

DIVE IN...





Is it me or are swimming caps slowly coming back into fashion? Swimming caps were manufactured in the 1920s made from latex produced using an aviator style chin straps allowing adjustments around the chin. The swim cap generation went scarce with the start of the war slowly coming slower making rubber materials harder to get hold of. This fashion was then only available to the wealthier women as they had to protect their "wave" hairstyle as it took time to obtain and was expensive so they wanted to protect it as long as possible. In the 1950s the swimming caps came back brighter and bolder than ever approaching the 60s trend of block colours flowered swimming caps were designed and available to all classes. From then onwards swimming caps were taken as fashion accessory to become a functional item used for the swimming sport after it had been established in 1980s improving their speed in the water. With me being a 21st century child I have been educated to know that swimming caps only were used for that purpose but researching into the history of swimming caps without fashion they wouldn't be around to help these athletes. I have been researching and found contemporary designers and brands that have been inspired by swimming caps to produce collection but to a high quality putting a flamboyant twist to the accessory. PPQ was one of them collaborating with Schweppes Abbey-Well ‘Get Britain Sch…wimming’ launched one off stylish swimming cap encouraging the public to swim regularly. The designs are made out of non waterproof materials so they wouldn't be of use in a swimming pool but nice to wear around making other people jealous! The innovative idea was influenced by the concept of British heritage producing four different looks that best signified British fashion. This consisted of the popular trends of Punk, 50′s Britain, Rockabilly and Royal all using the swim cap idea as the base of their products. Many other designers also made this trend more popular suiting different target audiences such as: Marni, Mui Mui and Marc Jacobs all relating it to their own style. I think this fashion trend will continue to be inspiration for designers giving them innovative ideas to play with and create such amazing pieces of art.


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