THE TIGHT STUFF

In the summer of 1961, on Sydney’s golden Bondi Beach, lifeguards had their work cut out.

- 

Not only were they keeping swimmers safe, but they were also operating as “beach inspectors”, strolling the sands with a tape measure, ready to rebuke women in scanty bikinis; no navels were to be exposed, and three inches of fabric covering the thigh was required. Dubbed “the Bikini Wars” in Australian newspapers, Waverley Council’s strict swimwear regulations saw 50 women ordered off the beach over the October long weekend. But just a few weeks later, this was no longer purely a battle against bikinis.

Alerted by other beach-goers, lifeguard and inspector Aubrey Laidlaw summoned the police to deal with a group of male swimmers, who were arrested for indecent exposure. They were wearing what the world knows today as Speedos - high-cut, streamlined and stretchy male swimming briefs. The men were ultimately released without charge, because no pubic hair was on display, but the incident was the talk of Sydney, and local swimwear brand Speedo suddenly had all the exposure it could handle.

Amber Butchart is a fashion historian, and curator of “Splash! A Century of Swimming and Style”, currently on at The Design Museum. “The Australian designer and artist Peter Travis was central to the development of the Speedo brief,” she says. “Travis was openly gay at a time when it was illegal, and designed innovative styles that celebrated the male form.”